DoubleRonpa
by IceWritesStuff
Summary: 2 universes, one story: 2 minds, one game. 16 characters, half from one universe, half another, end up trapped together in a school, and the only way out is murder...and getting away with it. All while a monochrome bear and a misty fox with identity issues watch on and laugh... - (This story is a collab between myself and BaconBaka. Shoutouts to him!)
1. Chapter 1

In an empty classroom, a male around the age of 16 woke up. He had pale skin, and some raven-black hair with blue highlights in it as well, with most of his face being covered by the hair. He also wore several piercings on his face and ears, as well as black eyeliner. Clothingwise, he had on a black hoodie with a skull on the front, black torn pants, and red sneakers. In short, he looked like an emo…

"Urggghh… Where am I?" the male asked himself. "Man, the last thing I remember was buying something for Tortilla Thursday, when I got injected by something… Last time I trust that restaurant with my food orders."

He soon got up.

"Okay, remember your bearings..." The male continued. "Now… What's my name?"

He done some deep thinking, as he remembered.

"Ah, right. My name's Sting." The male named Sting confirmed. "Now… What else can I remember?"

He tried to think hard enough, but he came up empty.

"...Man… I can only remember my name..." Sting said to himself. "Well, while I'm here, I might as well check around this place."

At that moment, the intercom buzzed to life.

"Will all students, once you awake, please report to the gym as soon as you can. Don't laze about, or else I'm dragging you there, and it ain't gonna be pretty!" a high-pitched, somewhat annoying voice said, before the intercom disconnected.

Sting was puzzled. "Who the heck was that? Nevermind; I should get over to the gym. Lest I wanna be dragged about."

He soon left the room, knowing and relieved that he wasn't alone in this crazy get-up.

::::::

"We are here live at-OW!" The voice yelled as Sting opened the door. Realizing he accidentally hit someone, he looked for the source of the voice. He found it fairly quickly: It had come from a young girl with darker skin, blue hair, glasses, and wore a grey t-shirt, khaki pants, black Nikes, and a winter cap. She had also toted a red backpack and a small notepad with a pencil.

"Oh crap!" Sting said, startled, "Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't know you were-"

"Don't sweat that, fam," the girl interrupted, "Didn't think the door was that wide…" Her attention shifted to Sting, as she finally noticed him.

"Oh!" She said, jumping up, "I don't think I've seen your face before! Uhm, Care to state your name and talent?" She said, having her notepad at the ready to write down the answers. To say this made Sting feel a little awkward is an understatement.

"Uhm…Sting," He began, "My name's Sting Fleetwood, the Ultimate…..I dunno?" The woman scribbled almost all of that, and who knows what else, onto the page the notepad was open to before closing it for now.

"Oh!" She said suddenly, "Where are my manners? Hello, Sting, nice outfit, btw, but anyways, I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist!" She then added, "For my determination to seek the truth, the absolute truth, and NOTHING but the truth!" Her eyes seemed to hold burning passion as she said each word.

While Sting had never heard of someone with a last name of Joe Hanson, she seemed like a nice enough girl to hang out with.

"Hey, you don't mind if I come along?" Sting asked. Scarlet beamed

"Sure thing!" She replied, "The more, the merrier, as they say!"

:::::::

As the two made their way to the main room, they noticed another boy walking by. He seemed to not notice them, or perhaps he was trying to ignore them. Right off the bat, Sting noticed that the boy had a large blue cloak and brown hair.

"Uhm, Excuse me," Scarlet said, "Would you care if I took some of your time to ask some questions?" The boy didn't respond at first, but he did stop.

"A natural 20 in perception, hmm…" he muttered, before turning around suddenly, "Well, you definitely see me." Now his face was visible, and the two could that he had tan skin, green eyes, metal framed glasses, and wore a olive green shirt with a red stripe through the middle of it, khaki pants, and sneakers.

Sting nodded. "Of course we would; you kinda forgot your invisibility cloak at home."

"Very funny," the boy said, glaring at Sting, "What do you want, anyways?"

"Your name and talent, of course!" Scarlet piped, "I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, by the way, and this is my reporting partner, Sting, the Ultimate…." She trailed off at that.

"Even I'm not sure what my Ultimate Talent is." Sting shrugged back. The boy just chuckled before responding.

"Call me DM, Ultimate Dungeon Master," he replied. Scarlet's face sort of fell at that as she jotted down what she could.

"Annnnddd cue Ultimate Title Card graphic here." Sting added.

"Oh come on! A pen name?" Scarlet complained, "Can you least give me your real name, so I know what it is?" DM just laughed at that.

"Hell no!" he replied, "you honestly think I would give you, total strangers, my real name? How stupid do you have to be?"

"Hey!" Sting interjected, "Can you tone down on the 'rude' meter, please? I highly doubt any of us would actually refer to you by your real name if you weren't comfortable with it." DM stopped laughing, sighed and turned to go away from those two. Before he left, though, he shot one last glare at Scarlet, as if he immediately didn't trust her.

"Everyone has a right to choose who calls them what. Remember that, journalist. Else, you are going to make yourself a lot of enemies," he said, mostly to her before leaving.

"Let's move on; he ain't worth it." Sting recommended towards Scarlet. She sighed.

"All right…" she said reluctantly, "If anything, I'll probably get it another time."

::::

Before long, the two had entered a massive room with a table big enough to sit quite a few people. At the table, there were two people this time: one, a boy, had pale skin, silver eyes, black hair, and wearing a white tee under a purple jacket, jeans with small chains following the pockets, and grey sneakers; the other, a girl, had peach skin, red eyes that looked tired, long, messy black hair, and wore a red tee with a black pentagram on it, black sweatpants with "OCCULT" written on the left side, black shoes, and a necklace with a six-pointed star emblem on it. Also on the table was a book. They seemed to be talking mostly about paranormal shenanigans and how they got into what that did.

"-and that's how I found that the paranormal was real and could be dangerous." the boy finished. The girl looked at him with this look of "what!?"

"Wait...hold up a second," she began, "you mean to tell me...That you went out and used an Ouija Board...in a fucking graveyard?!"

"Alone," he added, "At night. Let's not forget that." Given the look on his face, he didn't like where the girl was going with this. She grabbed him by the collar and shook him a bunch.

"You idiot!" she yelled, "Do you realize that those things have rules against that **for a fucking reason**?! You're lucky it wasn't one of **_those_** demons that would steal your body and never give it back!" Sting could only watch on, while Scarlet quickly scribbled down everything that was happening.

"Woah, chill!" the boy said, "I was stupid then, I didn't think demons were real! And it was a dare, too!" This seemed to only add more fuel to the fire that was this girl's anger.

"Dare or not, that was **dangerous**!" She replied, "and just because one thinks they're not real, doesn't mean they won't attack you!" To avoid this fire from becoming an inferno, Scarlet spoke up.

"Uhm, excuse me, who are you two?" she said, readying the pencil and notepad. The two looked up at her, and the girl let go of the boy before speaking as if nothing happened.

"Oh, hello there!" She said, "I'm Anna, the Ultimate Occultist...Sorry for that, you walked in at such a time!" She shot the boy a quick glare.

"I'm more or less glad you came in when you did…" the boy said, "at any rate, Anna here might have strangled me. Name's Kuro Adumo, by the way: Ultimate Paranormal Hunter."

Sting blinked a bit. "Did you actually attempt to summon a demon with an Ouija board in the middle of a graveyard?" Kuro just looked at Sting, wide-eyed.

"Wait, you heard the entire thing?!" he asked, getting red from embarrassment, "Goshdarnit, Anna! You told me no one else would hear that!" Anna just chuckled.

"From the sounds of it, it wasn't a demon he was going for," she replied, "Possibly a low-level spector. Ouija boards aren't normally used to call demons, but they can attract one to your location if, for example, you use it in a graveyard!"

Sting nodded. "Huh, I always KNEW that my 5th grade teacher was a demon in disguise… Who else would force us to read War and Peace over Christmas Vacation?" Kuro just rolled his eyes.

"Great, now I'm never going to hear the end of that," Kuro said, "by the way, who are you guys, even?"

"Ah! I'm Sting, the Ultimate… Emo or something." Sting introduced himself. "Even I'm not sure about my talent."

"Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist!" Scarlet said, "At your service!"

"Speaking of service, I think we better head to the gym, like that P.A. thing said," Anna stated, "we were out here long enough. Well, see you around, Sting and Scarlet," Anna said before grabbing the book and heading out. Kuro left without saying a goodbye to them: he was still too embarrassed over the fact that those two heard his conversation with Anna. Scarlet turned to Sting after they left.

"They're a wild duo, huh?" She asked.

"I dunno," Sting replied.

:::::

Soon after, they heard loud guitar noises coming their way. When they turned to see who it was, they found it came from a boy with light skin, blonde messy hair dyes light green at the tips, large sunglasses, and wore a black tee with a bat with no eyes on it and "BATLESS" written under it, spiked wristbands, jeans and blacks sneakers. He didn't seem to notice Sting and Scarlet, and was strumming his electric guitar.

"OMG, could you STOP making those loud obnoxious noises with you damn guitar?!" A girl said, covering her ears. She had light skin, cold blue eyes, light blonde hair, and wore rainbow star earrings, a purple tee with netted sleeves and had "Kill Joy" written on it, jeans stained green at the ends, 2 red studded belts, gray shoes, and 3 bracelets of varying size on each of her arms. The boy just turned to her.

" Hey, these loud noises are music to my ears," He replied, "I can't quite pipe down what music I enjoy, even for you, darling." The girl gave him a funny look at that.

"Do not...call me that...ever again," she said. Scarlet looked at the girl in delight.

"Wait, SHE'S here!?" Scarlet asked before bolting toward the girl in question.

"OMG, I can't believe it!" Scarlet squealed, looking at the girl, "Diane?! Is that really you?!" Her eyes sparkled as "Diane" looked at her.

"Oh, so it seems I have a few fans here," She said, "I am indeed Diane McCathy, the Ultimate Pop Star!" Sting just looked at her funny.

"Diane?" he asked, "I don't recall that name." Diane looked up at Sting, insulted.

"What?!" She asked, "You mean to tell me you never heard of Diane McCathy, THE Pop sensation? Were you living under a rock until now?"

"Not really." Sting answered back. "Unless you count my house being on a concrete foundation, then I was living ON a rock all my life."

"Not the same, emo," Diane retorted. The boy just looked at her.

"Hey, simmer down a little, Diane," he said, "there were some people around here that didn't know who I was. Probably the same case here."

"Rock isn't Pop, genius," she scoffed, "of course you would have a couple people not know you." Scarlet finally noticed the boy at this point.

"Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to completely ignore in my fangirling, uhm...Who are you?" She asked.

"No offense taken here," he said, waving it off, "I'm Rex Trisket, the Ultimate Rock Guitarist." Scarlet quickly scribbled this down.

"Huh," she said, "well, thanks for your time!"

"Not a problem," Rex replied, "now if you'll excuse me, I've got to head to this 'gym' the PA spoke of. Lemme know if you wanna sample of my music. I can give one at any time." He left, but not before bumping into a wall next to the main room exit.

"I might as well leave too," Diane said, shaking her head, "There isn't a purpose to stay here any longer."

"Hey, Wait!" Scarlet said before Diane could leave, "before you leave, can I-uhh...Can I get your Autograph?" Diane just sighed.

"Fine.." she replied. She took the pencil and notepad Scarlet had, went to a blank page, and did a quick signing before handing it back. After that she left. Scarlet hurried back to Sting.

"Sorry for leaving you behind like that," she said, "Diane is like, really good at what she does! Her music is awesome! I would show you some of her tracks...if I had my mp3 with me…" her face fell at that.

"I'll keep an eye out." Sting responded towards Scarlet.

::::

In another hall, the duo had a feeling that they were being watched from behind. They didn't really want to turn around, as they didn't want to be jumped at by whoever or whatever was keeping their eyes on them.

"So… Which one of us should turn around and see who's behind us?" Sting asked. Without much warning, Scarlet whipped around to see who was behind them.

"JOURNALISTS SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN!" Scarlet shouted. At first it seemed like no one was there.

Sting blinked. "...Nobody."

But soon, what appeared to be a teenage girl around the age of 16 approached the duo. She had long, blonde hair and a black bowler hat on top of her head. She also wore a black t-shirt with a smiley face on the front over a pink sweater, lime green pants, purple shoes, and had large sunglasses over her eyes, which was opaque enough to hide her eyes.

"Uhm….hi?" Scarlet said, "What's your name and talent?!"

"Oh!" the girl said, "heh, didn't mean to creep you out like that. I'm Omelette, Ultimate Teacher. And you guys are?" she tilted her head a little as she looked at the two.

"Scarlet Joe Hanson! Ultimate Journalist! And, well, I'll let the man introduce himself." Scarlet replied.

"I'm Sting, the Ultimate… Whatever I am." Sting answered back. "So, why were you even tailing us two?"

"Eh, nothing. Just been eying your… Nevermind, forget I ever tried answering that." Omelette responded back. This however perked Scarlet's interest even more.

"Our what?! Spit it out! Our what?! Butts?" Scarlet asked, then guessed. To say she was determined was an understatement, as she was looking Omelette dead in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Well, uhm…." Omelette blushed a bit. "You're right on the money! I'm sorry, but you two just have some pretty awesome butts!" Scarlet just looked at Omelette shocked.

"Wait, really?" She started, "I-uhm, I just guessed that randomly, I didn't actually think I would get that right…" She turned beet red from what seemed to be embarrassment, before turning quickly and bolting out of the hall, leaving Sting alone with Omelette.

"Hey, wait!" Sting called out, running after her. Omelette just stood there for a few moments in silence.

"...Was it something I said?" She asked, to no one particular.

:::::

When Sting rounded the corner after in a sprint, he ran right into someone. They let out a yelp, and both the person and Sting fell.

"Ow…." Sting groaned as he got up.

"Watch yourself next time!" the person, a boy, said as he got up. Sting finally got the chance to see who exactly he ran into: the boy had light skin, red hair, green eyes, square glasses, and wore a long sleeve with a "Y" on it, khaki pants, and grey shoes.

"Sorry…" Sting said, trailing off a little bit, "Hang on, do I know you? ...Nah, I am all sorts of lost today." The boy just shook his head and chuckled.

"Of course. Amnesia." he said, pushing his glasses up, "I'm Yentoulis, Ultimate Robotics Engineer. Remember that, cause I'll be famous one day."

"Really?" Sting asked "Ah, neat. So, what kinda robots do you construct?"

"The kinds meant for miniature robot fighting, Pinhead." Yentoulis answered back. "Do you even watch TV at all?"

"Nah, not since they rebooted Daria and titled it 'Daria MOAN'." Sting responded back, "But, changing the subject, have you seen someone with blue hair run by here?"

"No, I didn't." Yentoulis answered back. As if on cue, a loud scream suddenly sounded the halls, catching both Sting's and Yentoulis's attention.

"Who was that?!" Sting asked.

"Beats me, Pinhead. Why don't you check it out?" Yentoulis offered, as he made a shooing motion towards Sting.

Sting understood, as he left Yentoulis to his own devices.

::::

When Sting got to the source of the scream, he found that it had come from Scarlet herself. She was against a wall, shivering in fear, looking at something in the shadows.

"Scarlet?!" Sting asked, surprised to see her here after...that, "What happened? Are you okay?" Scarlet just looked at him wide-eyed.

"S-s-so b-b-b-big…." Was all Scarlet could manage to say. She pointed to the shadows after she said that, and Sting followed with his eyes to see what this "big thing" was. It was too dark to see fine details, but sure enough, there was someone there, and they were extremely tall. Sting searched for a light switch, hoping to shine some light onto the situation. It didn't take long, and once he flicked it on, he was now able to see this tall person in detail. He didn't look as scary as Sting imagined he would be. In fact, it was a boy with light skin, black hair, grey eyes, and wore a purple shirt under a faded blue jacket, red pants, and green sandals. He looked at Scarlet in shock, as if her fear was not intentionally caused by him.

"W...Who are you two?" The male asked nervously. Once Scarlet could see him clearly, she turned to Sting, her shaking not really calming down.

"I-I don't k-know what's worse: me getting scared b-by this guy, or the fact that I said 'Journalists shouldn't fear the unknown' and here I am getting scared by someone I didn't k-know…." Scarlet whispered, "You go first please...I uhm-I need to get my bearings together…"

Sting approached the newcomer.

"I'm Sting. And who are you?" Sting asked.

"...I'm Drake. W-Where are we?" The newcomer named Drake asked.

"Y-y'know, I've been wondering that...myself," Scarlet replied, "Do-do...what is the last thing you remember before you were...y'know, here?" She was definitely trying to not seem scared around Drake, but she did not move from her position against the wall.

"I… Can't remember." Drake recalled back. "Everything's all f-fuzzy…" Scarlet's shaking ceased at this point, and her face changed from fear to concern.

"Str-strange…." She recalled, "I-I can't recall much, either. Aside from some personal information, like my name and such, all my memory is just filled with...noises? There's no pictures, but there are noises, from what I can't exactly pinpoint." She turned to Sting, hoping maybe he recalled something. Sting just looked at her and shook his head slowly.

"Same here," Sting replied sadly, "It's all black for the most part." Scarlet's face fell at that.

"Aw, crud…" she cringed, "Dog gone it! I should've asked those other peeps we bumped into about that, too! Oh, I'm an idiot!" She looked to Sting, with all previous signs of fear having long since vanished.

"C'mon, we better hurry and interview the last of the others, before that...whatever it is decides to drag us to where it wants us to be!" She said, running in place. She then turned to Drake.

"OH! Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, at your service!" She said, "Say, what's your talent, Drake?" Drake just looked at her funny before responding.

"I'm… the Ultimate Cartoonist." Drake answered back. "H-Have you ever heard of Pogo Peki?" Scarlet could only stare blankly at him, as if she's trying to process what she was asked.

"...Huh?" She asked, "What is that, even? Is that a cartoon?" Drake's face fell at her response.

"No…" He replied, "It's a...well, given your response, you-you probably would never have heard of the game." Scarlet turned to Sting.

"Hey, uhm, can we go now, before this gets any more awkward?" She asked, looking more than ready to get away from Drake. After a few moments more of staring, the two finally left, to see who else found themselves in this place, and who possibly held the key to how they ended up here.

::::

As the finally reunited duo made their way to the gym, they noticed a series of doors in the hallway, namely a door with a controller icon on it.

"Hey...I wonder if there's anyone inside…" Scarlet pondered as she looked at the door. Sting shrugged.

"Well, only one way to find out," he said, as he opened the door. Inside, there was an array of TVs with different consoles connected to them, as well as arcade machines and a few shelves with board and card games carefully stored away, as well as a table to set up explicently to play those board and card games. And at said room, two people, a male and a female, were huddled around a table, as a stack of cards were in front of them.

The male had brunette hair with a blue dyed fringe, a black and orange shirt with the letters NTDO on the front, blue jeans, and surprising enough, was barefoot.

The female was mocha-skinned and had a blue beret over her black, messy hair. She had a pair of purple framed glasses over her eyes, and wore a green t-shirt with the words 'Dungeon Queen' on the front, blue scrubs, red sneakers, and a pink sweater over her waist.

"Thou shall cast Evil Eyeball on your Ruiz Knight!" The frizzy haired girl announced. Scarlet looked at the two funny.

"Uhm, what are you guys playing?" She asked. Both the male and female looked up from their game at Scarlet.

"Ah, just the most awesome game in the world: Atifact!" The male answered back. "...Marissa here's teaching it to me."

"You betchya!" Marissa responded back. "I'm quite surprised that Ellis here hasn't knew about it yet."

"You know; extremely religious grandma, and that whole Anti-Sataniac crap." Ellis grumbled. "So, how about you two?" Scarlet made a weird sound along the lines of an "eep" at first, as if she didn't expect to be asked questions first.

"Uhm.." She started, "guess there will be times where the questioner becomes the questioned, heheh...Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, at your service! And this is Sting!"

Sting observed Marissa. "Hey, aren't you Marissa Lambert, last year's Atifact champion?"

"You betchya!" Marissa answered back. "Managed to defeat AlcaPony 0-3 AND Brigand Kevin! Kev kept on declaring his moves for Mexico. And for some reason, had a bandana of the Canadian flag on top of his head. It's how I got the job class 'Ultimate Card Game Player' and sent here." There was a sudden air of awkwardness around Scarlet, as she just looked at Marissa, then to Sting, and back again.

"...You know this person?" She asked, "I feel so behind not knowing this person existed nor the game Atifact…." She cleared her throat, then continued, "Say, uhm, Ellis, I presume? What's your talent?" Ellis just looked at her, unsure of how to respond to this.

"I'm the Ultimate Awesome!" Ellis declared, as Marissa giggled.

"Ummm… Even I don't know myself." Marissa shrugged. Scarlet sighed, then repeatedly hit her forehead with her notepad in annoyance.

"This. is. the. THIRD. Time! That not information was available!" she said between smacks. She then stopped and felt her forehead. "Ow, that actually hurts, don't do that."

"Say, Sting! What's your talent?" Ellis asked.

"Beats me…" Sting grumbled, as he blew at the hair covering his face. "I have no clue about this deal as well." Right about then, the door opened, and DM entered the room.

"Huh, so this is the game room…." He began, "I wonder if this room hold any supplies for D&D.." He then noticed Scarlet and Sting in the room, as well as Ellis and Marissa.

"Oh, I see we meet again, Sting and Scarlet," he noted, but left it at that. Marissa's attention perked at the word "D&D".

"Hey," Marissa asked, "I heard you mention Dungeons and Dragons. Do you like that tabletop RPG?" DM chuckled.

"Of course," he replied, "I wouldn't be the 'Ultimate Dungeon Master' if I disliked the game, now would I?" A conversation about the game soon ensued between DM and Marissa, leaving the others feeling a bit awkward. Eventually, Sting and Scarlet left the room to see what other things the hall of various rooms could hold.

:::::::

The next room the two visited appeared to be a large storage room filled with supplies. There were rows and rows of shelves, each filled to the brim with a variety of items, from your typical items, like boxes of recreational equipment and mats, to the absolutely bizarre, like sharp knives and bottles of cyanide. Sting couldn't help but stare in awe at the sheer variety of items that were inside, while Scarlet jotted notes about the area. There was also the faint sounds of music playing….And upon closer listening, it was "We are Number One."

"Who the heck is playing that song in an area like this?!" Scarlet asked, annoyed. Sting shrugged.

"I personally have no idea," Sting replied, "but the only way to find out is to track that music to its source." And so they went. It took them awhile, but eventually they found that the source was a battery operated radio, seemingly tuned in to a meme music station, and nearby was a girl with peach skin, blonde hair tied up into 2 fluffy ponytails, blue eyes, and wore a rainbow tank top, orange pants, and black shoes. She didn't notice the two at first: she seemed too into her meme music, as she was just dancing. Out of annoyance, Scarlet shut off the radio, which caused the girl to stop dancing and look up.

"Awww…" She said, "Why'd you shut it off? I was listening to that." Scarlet sighed.

"Not everyone likes the memes you like, uhm...Who are you?" Scarlet stated. The girl just gave the goofiest smile she could before answering.

"Yo yo yo! It's ya boi, Xina Morph, the Ultimate Prankster, comin' at ya with some spiiiicy memes!" She replied, pointing finger guns at Sting. "Bang, Bang, what's y'all doing for now? Any fine memes you're indulging in?"

"I dunno…" Sting blinked.

"Well, trying to get to know who's who, but from the looks of it, I can't tell if you're being serious or not," Scarlet replied flatly, "And no, I haven't indulged in any 'fine memes', whatever that means in your book." Xina gasped.

"Whaaaaaaat?" Xina asked, "Girl, have you never been on the internet? That's where memes, or internet jokes for you lame people, live and die. Jeesh, sounds like I would have to take you with me on the glorious adventure to find some good memes." Scarlet just looked at her funny.

"Are you...Like, not gonna ask who we are?" Scarlet asked, feeling more and more awkward around Xina. Sting wasn't sure what to make of Xina, either, as she seemed so bouncy and bubbly, but there's that whole bit with her obsession with memes.

"Aw, why can't you just introduce yourselves whenever? You don't need me to be asking you scrubs for your names and whatnots" Xina asked, "Just freakin' drop 'em as if they were lyrics of a rap battle!"

"Okay, you need to simmer down with the memes," Scarlet stated, "Scarlet Joe Hanson, by the way: Ultimate Journalist."

"And I'm Sting , the Ultimate….Uhm, finger guns?" Sting said. Xina just shook her head.

"You're doing it wrong, Sting," Xina said disapprovingly, "You don't say it, it's an action...Dog gone, Visit me at some point so I can teach you memes 101. You definitely sound like you need a lesson on that." After that, Xina turned back on the radio, just as "Running in the 90s" was starting.

"And you, Scarlet...You just need to be on the internet more, learn to appreciate it," Xina said, before returning to dancing, even dabbing at one point. The two left the room, not really wanting to stick around someone who seems too absorbed into her own little world, and brought that world with her whenever she talked to someone.

::::::

On their way to the gym, Scarlet realized she didn't have her notepad anymore for some reason.

"Ugh, where is it?!" She asked after checking her pockets and her bag.

"Maybe you dropped it somewhere between here and the storage room?" Sting suggested.

"Not possible," she said, "I placed it in a pocket in my bag that I made SURE didn't have a hole in it, let alone one big enough for a notepad to slip through." When she looked up, she noticed someone with bright blue hair, a red jacket, blue jean and black boots holding a notepad in her hand. It didn't take long to conclude that the person was holding Scarlet's notepad. Scarlet bolted after the person, then grabbed their arm, demanding that they give back her notepad. Once the person turned around, and Sting caught up to the two, the person's face was more visible: it was a girl. She had darker skin, faded blue eyes, multiple piercings on her eyebrow, ears, nose and belly button, and also wore a torn purple shirt under that jacket, which had a yellow parrot icon on it.

"Oh for the love of God...Can you please give me back my notepad?" Scarlet said after multiple demands falling on deaf ears.

"Eh, maybe in a little bit; Mecca wants to see what kinda juicy secrets you got in here!" Mecca responded back, sporting a grin. Scarlet tried to snatch it out of Mecca's hand at that, but surprisingly, Mecca had a tight grip on the notepad.

"Uh, No you will not!" Scarlet said, "Given how you just stole it five seconds ago, I have no reason to trust you with valuable information!" She struggled to pull it out of Mecca's hand, but to no avail.

"Sting!" Scarlet said, "Stop standing around and help me get my notepad back!" Sting jumped a little, but couldn't budge. Then a click and flash, as if someone used a camera. This blinded Scarlet long enough for Mecca to regain her grip on the notepad and open it.

"Okay, who's the jerk who took a photo of me?!" She asked. At first, there was just a laugh, then the wielder of the camera approached.

"Ha! Blackmail! Let's see you wiggle your way outta this one, twerp." A female voice responded out loud. Standing there was a girl with peach skin, light brown hair, sly green eyes, and wore a light blue blouse, pink skirt, knee high socks, and pink sneakers. She also had 2 piercings in each of her ears, and wore a gold necklace with an "S" symbol as the emblem.

"Gh-Blackmail?!" Scarlet asked, shocked, "What the hell are you even talking about?! Why should I even fear you?" She then remembered her notepad, and went back to grab it, this time successfully pulling it out of Mecca's hand...But not before the girl got yet another photo for her. This seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as Scarlet looked at the girl in sheer anger.

"Stop fucking taking photos of me, you prick!" She said, not realizing what came out of her mouth until it was too late. The girl just smiled at Scarlet's reaction.

"You should know your place, idiot." The mean girl responded towards Scarlet. "Or not. More fun for me when I send this all over the Internet."

"Er, Mecca tried. But we don't have any bars here." Mecca said out loud. "Or any reception." Scarlet looked the girl in victory.

"HA! Score one for the truth!" She said. Sting finally decided to speak up after having to witness a serious catfight go down.

"Uhm, excuse me, who are you? The one with the 'S'?" Sting asked.

"Finally, someone recognizes me…" The mean girl answered back. "I'm Steph George, and it would be best to stay on my good side. I can already tell that blue haired, book bag toting idiot already disobeyed that order."

"I have a name, you know!" Scarlet retorted, "I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist. If anything, you should be careful of me, since I can tell you right now, the truth's pointing to you being the bad guy!"

"Ooh, catfight!" Mecca grinned, as she took out a bag of popcorn. "Mecca, the Ultimate Teaser has front row seats!"

Scarlet shot a glare at Mecca.

"You're not off the hook, either, Mecca…" Scarlet said, "And what are You, Steph, some kind of Ultimate Blackmailer?"

"I'm known as the Ultimate Texter." Steph answered back. "I can send a text to anyone within seconds. I've got some pretty light-speed fingers… Or I would send texts if we had any Wi-Fi." Scarlet just looked at her dead in the eyes, as if she wanted to strangle this person, but held back. She turned to Sting.

"grr..Let-Let's just go," Scarlet said, starting to walk away.

"Yeah, besides… I think Mecca can handle Steph." Sting responded towards Scarlet, as he walked alongside her.

Steph could only growl, as Mecca held out her hand.

"...Popcorn?" Mecca said, offering some popcorn.

"I have no idea where you got that, but no thank you," Steph replied, pushing Mecca's hand away, "You may have won this time round...But I swear, I will find your deepest secrets, and whip you back into shape with them… _Scarlet Joe Hanson_."

:::::

Before long, the two had located the gym. Or the gym lobby, to be accurate. It was a small room with a set of door on the other side. Other than that, it had nothing of interest, except for a person. It was a shorter male with peach skin, reddish-orange wind-blown hair, rich blue eyes, and wore a white tank top, blue shorts, Nikes, a red bandana tied around his neck, and a yellow one tied around his head. He didn't notice the two at first, he was kicking imaginary dirt and mumbling to himself

"By god, this place is so small!" he said to himself, "How the hell am I going to get any decent parkouring done with such little room to work with?"

"Uhm, Hi?" Sting said. The boy jumped and looked at Sting, as if Sting just came out of nowhere and jumpscared him.

"GAH!" He yelled, "What in the-grrr, Don't sneak up on me like that!" Scarlet just looked at him.

"We didn't sneak up on you: we literally were standing here for a good while," Scarlet corrected. The boy just sighed.

"Whatever.." he dismissed, "You guys are here now, what exactly are you looking for?"

"Uhm, I guess it's obvious: your name and talent!" Scarlet replied.

"Alright, fine…" the boy stated, "Name's Victor Vant, Ultimate Parkourist. Guess you two work at some news station?"

"Uhm, yes and no?" Scarlet replied, looking at Sting in uncertainty, "I'm indeed the Ultimate Journalist, Scarlet Joe Hanson, by the way, but...Well, Sting over here doesn't really know what talent he has." Victor just looked at Sting for a moment.

"Dang, sorry for your loss, bud," he said, "Must suck hearing all of these talents, and here you are without a talent."

"Uhm, I don't think I'm talentless," Sting corrected, "not knowing your talent and being talentless are two different things after all, and I'm 99% sure that just because I can't remember my talent, I don't have one to begin with."

"You get my point!" Victor said, irritated, "Still sucks regardless if you have an actually talent hiding away or if there isn't one to begin with." he huffed in annoyance, and turned to go through the gym doors.

"Hey, wait!" Scarlet called to him, "one last question before you go: Uhm, what's the last thing you remember before you were here?" Victor looked at Scarlet confused.

"The..last thing I remember?" Victor asked, "uhm...I, well…I remember a breeze? My guess on that would be I was last sitting on the roof of a building before I was here, but uhm, don't quote me on that." He pushed the doors open and entered the gym afterwards, not even saying "see you around". Without much else to explore, the two entered the gym after Victor.

 **A/N: This story is a collab between myself and BaconBaka on . As such, half of the cast is his characters, half are mine.**  
 **Sting, Omelette, Drake, Yentoulis, Ellis, Marissa, Mecca, and Steph belong to BaconBaka .**  
 **Scarlet, DM, Kuro, Anna, Rex, Diane, Xina, and Victor belong to me.  
DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Once they entered the gym, they realized they weren't the only people other than Victor in the gym. Many faces the two encountered already were in here, and some were chatting among themselves regarding their environment.

"Okay, can I just say right now: Why is there a clear line down the middle where nobody knows each other?" Diane asked, frustrated, "Myself, for example, I'm a famous pop star. Yet, there are 8 people EXACTLY who don't know who I am: 4 boys, 4 girls."

"Psh, tell me about it," Steph said as she entered, "Just recently, I bumped into a number of freaks, including one who had the ugliest of hair."

"Probably was random chance, if you ask me," Rex replied flatly to Diane.

"Okay there, genius. If you're so smart, what are the odds that EXACTLY 4 boys and 4 girls have never heard of me?!" Diane retorted, "Pretty small, huh? So, can it really be random chance?"

"Geesh, you mind giving the guy a break there?" Kuro said, "All I've heard from your mouth in regards to him is trash talking and name calling."

"Hey, Rex isn't the only one I trash talk," Diane replied, "If I have a reason to, I'll trash talk every person in this room, but so far, only Rex here has given me a reason to diss him." While this conversation was going on, Scarlet counted the number of people in the gym, then looked at her notepad to see who she had met and who she missed.

"Wait! Wait!" Scarlet said, beginning to panic, "I count 15 people, but I've only met 14! Who am I missing?!" She looked around in a frenzy. Sting glanced around the room, then noticed Yentoulis by a corner of the gym, away from everyone else.

"Hey, I think you missed him over there…" Sting suggested, pointing to Yentoulis, "Do you have the name 'Yentoulis' written down?" Scarlet quickly flipped through her notepad, checking for the name.

"Oh! No I don't," Scarlet said after a few brief moments, "I better fix that, heh. Thanks, Sting!" She raced over to where Yentoulis was, asking him her usual questions, to be met at first with a "GO AWAY! What are you doing here?!" Sting chuckled a little at that, then looked around to see what everyone else was doing. The first thing that caught his eye, though was Diane and Steph, as they seemed to be whispering to each other about god know what. Though, there were points when they spoke louder, as if they wanted people to hear them.

"Oh? A journalist swore?" Diane half whispered, half spoke, "Bitch, I drop fucking F bombs all the time when I'm not producing music, so how is a journalist swearing any different?"

"Because, you fucking idiot," Steph replied, "Journalists are supposed to be professional, are they not? Swearing isn't very professional. Therefore, a journalist that swears, like that weirdo over there with Yentoulis, isn't professional.""

"And you're not a professional?" Diane remarked back.

"Hey, pardon your buddy Mecca for barging into this conversation, but who are you guys talking about?" Mecca asked as she approached the two. Steph and Diane just looked at her for a moment.

"The Ultimate Journalist, I guess," Diane stated. Mecca beamed.

"Oh, Scarlet?" Mecca began, "Well, get this: Mecca actually got a look inside of her notepad, and Mecca found that according to her, the chick with the occult pants and the dude sporting the purple jacket are probably lovebirds." This perked both of the girl's interest, Steph's in particular.

"Hold on," Steph asked Mecca, "How can you be so sure that what you read was accurate? The girl swore, you were there when it happened!"

"Yeah, and _**you**_ pushed for it!" Scarlet said as she returned from interviewing Yentoulis, and having to deal with him repeatedly trying to get her to go away, "You realize that a journalist should value the truth above all else, right? That's why I'm the Ultimate Journalist, after all. But neither would I claim to know everything, as that's simply unrealistic."

"Well, I ain't someone who looks like someone who dressed themselves in the dark." Steph taunted back.

"Gh-Excuse me, Ms. I'm-gonna-spread-lies-about-others?!" Scarlet retorted, "You may have a couple people who agree with you about me, but the truth still stands: you can't just sneak up on people and snap pictures of them and expect them to like it!"

"Hey uhm, guys?" Rex asked, "can we, like, simmer down a little?" Both girls shot a dirty look at him.

"Says you, you American R-Tard!" Steph responded towards Rex.

"Rex, not now!" Scarlet said, "This person here needs to learn that the truth is not a toy you can play with!" Almost everyone was looking at Steph and Scarlet now, and Diane looked about ready to explode in anger.

"Ooh, you Diane?" Mecca asked, noticing Diane's anger building up, "Didn't you deny a dying little girl's final wish one time? She said before she died… Diane is a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and her butt smelled and she liked to kiss her own butt-"

"QUIET!" Diane snapped. Immediately, everyone's eyes were now on Diane, who was breathing heavily in anger.

"Shut your goddamn mouths, the both of you!" Diane began, "I don't care if you're a fan of my work or just a nobody, I've heard enough of your damn bickering! Take it somewhere else if you can't resolve it, for fuck's sake, or else, I swear to god, I will hit the both of you on the head with my mic! And it's not a plastic one, either I'll have you know. And **YOU** -" She pointed at Mecca, before her voice dropped in volume, "what makes you think that's true?"

"Mecca spends her time on message boards." Mecca answered back. "I get all my juicy info from there~."

"I don't think message boards are the best place to get that sort of info," Scarlet input, but said no more. She was more or less stunned at the possibility of Diane getting angry.

"Changing the subject, uhm, where the heck is the guy who called us here? Rex asked.

"Why, I'm right here!" A voice proclaimed. Sting recognized that voice: it was the same high-pitched, annoying voice that told him to go to the gym. Everyone looked to the stage, and seated there was a monochrome bear with a jagged read eye and a sinister smile on the black side. It had some popcorn as well, meaning it had been there for a while now.

"GH-!" Diane started, "Just how long have you been sitting there?!"

Drake looked at the bear with interest. "...Cute." For a moment, it looked like the bear almost choked on the popcorn.

"Uh-wha-I am not cute!" the bear yelled, putting away the popcorn and showing his claws, "I can tear you to shreds if I want to! But I won't...Not right now, at least."

"I would normally start freaking out and assuming it was something demonic by now," Anna said, "but for the sake of being a somewhat logical person, I'm gonna wait this out and see if this bear is just a robot or not."

"Annnnnnyways, maybe I should kindly introduce myself," the bear said, "I'm Monokuma, the Headmaster!" Many people looked at each other in confusion.

"I still find him cute…" Drake muttered. Xina snorted and covered her mouth, to try to avoid bursting out in laughter.

"Seriously, Drake?" Xina asked, "Dude, you and I are definitely gonna get along. My meme-senses never fail me!" Monokuma just shot Drake a dirty look.

"Uhm, of which school, exactly?" Scarlet asked, "Some people are saying Hope's peak, and some other recall Xane's School for Gifted Youth."

"Eh?" Monkuma asked, "Two schools? But there's alway been one, why are you-" He cut himself off when a mist started to form on the ground in the gym. The student looked around, trying to find where it was coming from, but to no avail. Suddenly the mist all rushed to a location on the stage, forming a mini tornado of mist before stopping and revealing a new face on the stage: this time, it was a white fox with black cornea and a white pupil, a mist mane and 2 mist tails, and wore a bone white mask with 2 mist colored horns coming from the center of its head.

"Pardon the rather...strange entrance," the fox said, "But I'm assured that you've seen stranger things in this place, like that 'clear line' someone mentioned. I am Ark, by the way: the Headmaster for this 'Xane's' you spoke of." Anna wasted no time opening her book and flipping through the pages.

"GAH! Another one?!" Diane yelped, "just how many of you ARE there?" Monokuma looked about as confused as Diane, as he looked at the other Headmaster.

Drake took a look at Ark. "...Also cute." He said, sporting a faint smile on his face. Ark ignored him.

Xina gave off a playful smirk. "You're insane! I now know for a fact we'll get along just fine."

"So, you think _you're_ a Headmaster, too?" He said, "Well I'll be damned if you have a good explanation for this," Ark smirked.

"Did you miss the part where I just said I was Headmaster of a school you never heard of?" Ark remarked, "Besides, we have an announcement to give these poor souls, do we not? Let us not beat the bush around anymore."

Those words didn't sit well in Sting. _Poor souls? What is he implying?_ Sting thought.

"Okay fine, you Headmaster wannabe," Monokuma stated, "Alright, you little shits! As some of you remember, you went to some school, and now you're here, blah blah blah, all that boring stuff. Well, Since you all are little hopes of the world with your 'Ultimate Talents' or whatever, we are going to do our best to preserve that hope. So to do that, you all are trapped here for the rest of your lives!" Monokuma laughed hysterically after that as all the students looked at him stunned.

"Uhm…" Drake said, "On second thought, I changed my mind. The bear's..not cute at all."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Diane retorted, "how long did it take you to figure _that_ out?"

"Wait, Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Xina asked, "The rest of our lives? But what about my memes? I heard from a number of people that there's no internet!"

"Why is that the one thing you're most worried about right now, you walking rainbow?!" Steph snapped.

"What?! No way!" Scarlet cried out, "How am I going to report the news if I can't even reach the news station I work at?!"

"Mecca needs her possibly pirated cartoons!" Mecca also cried out.

"Wait, th-this is a joke, right?" Rex asked, "It-it-it's gotta be! There's no way nobody wouldn't notice 16 popular kids are suddenly missing! That's just not logical!"

"Now, now, children," Ark stated, "We are not joking about the whole 'trapped for life' thing, but fear not! Water is plentiful and Food is restocked daily, so don't worry your pretty butts over that."

"That's the LEAST of our worries, thank you very much!" Victor blurted, "how exactly do you expect someone with athletic talent to practice when this place is so damn cramped?"

"And why is THAT what you're most worried about?!" Steph snapped at Victor, "There's a million other reasons to be worried, and you go with not being able to 'practice your parkouring'? Seriously, get a life!"

"Stop shouting, I'll get to that." Ark replied.

"Anyways," Monokuma took over, "Supposedly, you're trapped for the rest of your lives, blah blah blah. Look, how many of you here want to get out?" Almost everyone raised their hands.

"Okay then...What if I told there _was_ a way to leave?" Monokuma asked. This perked everyone's attention.

"Well, tell us then," DM said, "Don't beat around the bush, either." Monokuma started, but Ark interrupted.

"I think it would be best if my younger brother told them…" Ark stated.

"A third? Are you fucking serious?!" Diane said.

"My fellow students," Ark started, reaching for the mask on his face, "in order to leave this place…" Without much hesitation, Ark removed the mask. Upon its removal, Ark's fur turned black, and now one could see the sharp, sly smile this "younger brother" bore. He also had faded red cornea, bright red eyes, slit pupils, and a more chaotic mist mane and tails.

"You must commit an atrocity! You must break someone's trust! You must… Take the life of one of your peers!" the brother stated before letting out a laugh that sent a chill down Sting's spine, "the name is Ark, by the way: Don't forget that!" The room fell silent as those words sank in.

"Murder?!" Xina asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, indeed, murder!" Ark 2 bellowed, "Whenever you bash, slash, poison, strangle, hex, or hang them on a noose, the method does not matter! All you need to do is bring someone's life to an end!" Drake flinched at those word "noose", as if the word was all too familiar to him.

"No… Not again…" Drake winced at that fact.

"Things went from TV - Y7 to TV-MA real fast…" Mecca stated.

"You can just say it went from 0 to 1000 in half a second, Mecca," Xina said shaikly. Diane shot a glare at Xina.

"Don't even _try_ to joke in a place like this," Diane snapped, "Death isn't something you can just meme away!"

"Unless it was those Bad Luck Brian memes…" Xina pouted.

"For once, I actually concur somewhat with Diane," DM noted.

"Alright, that aside," Monokuma took over, "We gotta issue to you your official school tablets!" He tossed out tablets to everyone (except Rex, whom he just handed the tablet to).

Omelette observed her tablet. "A screen protector… Wow, you go all out!"

"That's probably for the more...reckless ones," Anna said, closing her book and glaring at Kuro.

"What? Why are you shooting _me_ , of all people, a dirty look?" Kuro asked.

"Now where the hell am I supposed to put this?" Victor asked, "I don't have pockets, much less ones that can fit a tablet."

Mecca sported a grin. "That's why you gotta be prepared, my man!" She said, as she pocketed her tablet with ease in her deep jacket pockets. Victor just looked at her funny.

"Also, please make sure to read the rules: Last thing you want is to be punished day 1!" Monokuma stated.

"Hold up, one question: For Ark, more precisely," Diane began. Ark2 put on the mask before responding.

"Ask away, my friend," Ark stated.

"You mentioned something about 'that clear line', as if you knew what I was talking about. Could you tell us why this 'clear line' exists?" Diane asked. Ark looked at her for a moment, as if he was thinking on this.

"Hm….Do I tell you now, or do I save it for later?" Ark asked, "Screw it: Fellow student, the reason this 'clear line' exists is because…all of you come from two different universes: one of clouds, and one of cold." Ark left after that, without explaining what he meant, and Monokuma followed suit. There was a few moments of silence, as everyone was trying to process what they were just told.

"'One of clouds, one of cold'..." Yentoulis noted, "What the hell does that fox mean by that?"

"Your guess is about as good as mine, gears," Diane replied.

"That is indeed quite the interesting question," DM noted, "But I fear we won't get a direct answer to it from either Monokuma or Ark." The room fell silent again, as everyone looked at each other, unsure who would consider murder to leave.

"So...Now what?" Xina asked.

"I dunno… More memes, I guess?" Mecca asked, giving off a shrug.

"Memeing isn't really going to do anything for us at the moment," Anna stated, "We need to search for an escape!"

"That was what I was thinking as well," Rex noted, "But, where do we even start?"

"Well, I would imagine the first place to check would be any vents we can reach," DM said.

"Good idea." Yentoulis agreed, as he looked towards Drake. "Hey, Giant!"

Drake looked towards Yentoulis. "...Yeah?"

"Can you reach any vents in this room, if there are any?" Yentoulis asked.

Drake nodded, as he observed the room, and noticed a vent. As he removed the vent gate, a putrid odor started to fill the air.

"Oh jesus!" Diane said, waving her hand near her nose, "Close that darn vent up! It smells!"

"Just because it smells doesn't mean that we should ignore it," DM commented, "Now which one of us is small enough to fit through that vent?" For a moment there was silence as everyone looked for the shortest. They narrowed it down to 4 people: Mecca, Ellis, Victor, and Xina.

"Victor, would you kindly go in the vents?" Yentoulis asked, "you're probably the most athletic out of all of us." Victor jumped.

"Uhm, no thank you, ask someone else, please!" Victor swiftly declined.

"I'm out as well; that gas is all sorts of poisonous…" Ellis stated. Xina shook her head.

"And how do you know THAT, dude, you some poison expert?" Xina asked.

"Well, my older sis threw a stink bomb in my room one time, and… Yeah." Ellis answered back.

"Ooh, how about you, Xina?" Mecca asked. "After all, you already have the name for it; Mecca's probs sure it also transfers to duct crawling skills."

"Hardy hardy har, Mecca, I've watched Alien before, I know what you're referring to," Xina stated, before sighing, "ugh, fine, fine, fine, I'll go into the dumb vents if none of you chickens are gonna do it. But you all owe me a good meme when I find the exit, and we can find some internet." She made her where the vent was located, and stood there trying to figure out how to get in there.

"Now how the hell am I supposed to get up there?!" Xina asked.

Drake gently picked Xina up towards the vents, which was spewing out, unbeknownst to any of them, toxic gas.

"Oh, okay, that answer THAT question," she said, as she crawled into the vent, "See you dorkuses later, hopefully with good news!" She crawled out of sight: all one could hear was the thumping, and occasional shouting. But, something odd began to happen: her thumping grew quieter and less frequent, and the shouting died down.

"Uhh… The hell happened to Meme Chick?" Mecca asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno, but something tells me it's not good," Scarlet commented. The thumping suddenly stopped, and then only two words faintly echoed through the vents

"...Help...me…" Xina's voice asked before it all went silent. Soon, everyone was in a panic.

"Oh SHIT!" Rex said, "We gotta get her out of there, and fast!"

"Yeah, we know that!" Diane stated, "But who's gonna go after her? The other short people don't want to, and obviously some of us are too big to fit through that vent!"

"Quick, send me in!" Mecca demanded, with seriousness in her voice.

"Hang on!" DM said, "Victor, lend your red bandana to Mecca! While it wouldn't be much, it could at least filter out that gas in the vents long enough to get to Xina and drag her back!" Without much hesitation, Victor took off the red bandana around his neck and handed it to Mecca.

"Don't lose this," Victor told her. Mecca nodded. She soon tied it around her mouth, as Drake hoisted her into the vents, and Mecca crawled in. Minutes passed, as the other students listened in, praying that Mecca didn't get caught in the gas. Before long, the thumping grew closer to the open vent, and Mecca was freaking out, and dragging Xina with her.

"Quick! Take her, someone!" Mecca shouted.

Drake took the unconscious Xina, and laid her on the ground, as Mecca lept from the vents and landed onto the floor below her feet. She soon removed the red bandana and handed it back to Victor. everyone gathered around to see what damage Xina possibly suffered during her time in the vents. She was breathing rapidly and sweating a lot, but other than that, there was nothing.

"Well, that teaches you fools to not try escape," a high-pitched voice told them. Everyone looked to try to find who it was, and right there, near the vents, was that darn bear..Monokuma.

"What the-what are you doing here!?" Sting asked.

"Upupupupu~! You got lucky! A few minutes later, you would already be down one student!" Monokuma chirped back.

"What?!" Scarlet asked "Down one student?! What do you mean by that, Xina could've died in there?!"

"More importantly, what the hell is that gas in the vents?" Kuro asked. Monokuma chuckled.

"Puhu, you see, that gas is a toxic gas called Arsine! Bad for humans!" Monokuma explained, "last thing I need you kids doing is crawling around in the vents, so I put in an emergency gas emission trigger when someone pulls off a vent gate! I know, it sounds cruel, but the gas isn't lethal...as long as you're not in there for too long!" Monokuma laughed. This seemed to set off a few people, Mecca in particular.

"You mean to tell Mecca that our favorite meme chick could've died trying to help us escape?!" Mecca began to yell out.

"Well, when you put it that way-" Monokuma said before being cut off by Mecca grabbing him.

"Give us a straight answer! Yes, or no?!" Mecca yelled. Monokuma squirmed.

"Ahhh! Violence Against the headmaster is strictly prohibited!" Monokuma warned, before suddenly going silent and ceasing all motion. Then, a faint beeping noise sounded, coming from the bear Mecca was holding.

"What is that bear doing?" Anna asked.

"I wish I knew, but your guess is about as good as mine," Rex replied. Soon the beeping grew more frequent and faster, and Yentoulis realized what it was doing.

"Mecca!" He yelled, "Throw that bear away from you!" Mecca looked at Yentoulis.

"What?" Mecca asked, as the beeping grew even frequent. She suddenly paled in fear. "Everyone… DUCK!"

She soon tossed the bear far in the room, as it exploded. It was dead silent for a good few moments as everyone tried to process what the hell just happened.

"Oh…" Anna began, "guess that's one less thing I need to research in my demonology book…"

"Holy Cheese-its….Yentoulis, how in the world did you know that it was going to blow up?" Scarlet asked.

Then, there was a whir, and from the stage appeared...Monokuma?

"Grrr, you got lucky this time," Monokuma said, "Consider that your warning. Next time you break the rules, I won't be so nice." Before he left, he placed the vent gate back on the open vent, to turn off the Arsine trigger, and left without a word. DM grimaced as Monokuma left.

"Dammit, I should've taken that into account," DM said, "Monokuma wouldn't have made escape that easy, I know that, but son of a gun, why did I think he wouldn't have done something to the vents to make escape through them near impossible!?" He continued his small rant for a while until someone stopped him.

"DM," Anna told him, "Stop beating yourself up over this: It wasn't your fault, I'm pretty sure all of us were thinking the exact same thing when we heard that we were trapped."

"Besides, we have more important matters on our hands," Yentoulis added, "Namely, Xina Morph here is not doing well, and I'd rather not have someone die day one." DM regained his confidence at those words.

"Alright, then," he said, adjusting his glasses, "That rant aside, right now, we need to find medication and make sure Xina does not die to this."

"Right! I may know where to find some." Marissa spoke up.

"Great! I need you to retrieve any medication that can treat Xina's symptoms," DM told Marissa, "Drake, you don't mind carrying Xina to her dorm? Mecca, you can go with him if you want." Before Sting knew it, DM had pulled a 180, and was being basically the leader of a rescue mission.

"You got it!" Marissa grinned, as she started to sprint to the medical area.

Drake nodded, as he picked up Xina's unconscious body, and Mecca followed him as well.

"Victor, Since you're a fast runner, See if you can't find some rags lying around in the storage room," DM told Victor.

"Uhm, sure!" Victor replied before dashing out of the gym. DM turned to the remaining students in the gym.

"As for the rest of you, any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated," DM said, before leaving the gym. Scarlet turned to Sting, who hadn't said much during the events that unfolded.

"Wow, This guy is strange," Scarlet commented, "One moment, he's beating himself up over something he had no way of predicting, the next he's the acting leader of a mission to keep one of our classmates from dying. I wonder how he does it." Diane huffed.

"Just who does he think he is, bossing everyone around?" Diane asked, "But as it wouldn't be helpful if I stood around doing nothing, I'm heading off to retrieve one of those battery operated radios I saw that idiot messing around with." She left after that.

"Uhm, I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'm sure I can figure something out that could be helpful," Rex said as he left, but not before walking into the bar between the doors.

"I'll also see if Marissa needs some help." Ellis noted, before leaving.

"I'm gonna grab a bowl of cold water," Anna stated, "a rag isn't gonna help much if its dry."

"You sure you're not going to use it for some occult ritual?" Kuro teased. Anna shot him a dirty look.

"Don't even try me," Anna retorted, "I hate to break it to you, but this isn't the time to joke about my talent. Go find someone to annoy." She left in a hurry. He stood there for a moment.

"I think I'll just be going somewhere. Dunno where, but maybe somewhere that could be useful, not just to Xina," Kuro stated, before leaving.

Steph scoffed. "I, for one, would rather get a manicure. See you losers later." She said, as she left the gym.

"I'm going to do some research regarding this 'Arsine' Xina supposedly got exposed to," Scarlet proclaimed, "Anyone who wants to help me is more than welcome to," She went to leave.

"I'll help," Sting noted, "two heads are better than one, as they say." Scarlet giggled, then turned to the remaining two in the gym.

"What about you guys?" Scarlet asked.

"Guess I'll help you guys out, being I'm stuck here…" Yentoulis grumbled.

"Count me in! That, and I already graded everyone's butts anyway." Omelette added, as Yentoulis face-palmed.

"Wonderful!" Scarlet said, nervously, "More heads are always useful!" The group went to find a library or somewhere that contained books. After getting lost for a few moments, they finally found a room by the storage room that contained books.

"Say Yentoulis, How much would you know about harmful gases?" Scarlet asked as she looked at the bookshelf, looking for a book on toxic gases, "I mean, I know you're no Ultimate Chemist, but I figure you would know something about what gases to avoid, and what symptoms they cause, since you work with machinery."

"That I do, Fox News." Yentoulis confirmed, as he fiddled with his glasses.

"Oh, cool! Would you know a thing or two about Arsine?" Scarlet asked, "Also, Fox News? That's an...interesting nickname."

"Eh, you're a journalist. It would fit." Yentoulis answered back. "As for Arsine… I may know a thing or two." Without wasting much time, Scarlet flipped to a new page in her notepad.

Okay," Scarlet said, clearing her throat, "sorry for asking so many questions, but what exactly do you know about Arsine?" Yentoulis chuckled,

"While I could be a total asshole and not tell you, I won't...for now," Yentoulis noted, "That, and I wanna get outta here as much as you guys do. Anyways, Arsine is a colorless toxic gas with a mild garlic smell, and exposure to it usually causes confusion, dizziness, rapid breathing, headache, fatigue and all sorts of other nasty symptoms that don't go away for days."

"Yuck…" Omelette gagged a bit.

"Yeah, it's a nasty gas to get exposed to," Yentoulis continued, before realizing something, "Wait a second! What exactly did DM plan on doing to treat Xina?" The others jumped at bit at Yentoulis's sudden shift in tone.

"Uhm…" Scarlet replied, "I think he was trying to treat Xina to make sure her symptoms didn't get any worse. Beyond that, I don't think he had anything else planned...Why?" Yentoulis looked at others, wide-eyed.

"Oh SHIT!" Yentoulis yelled, "Ugh, why didn't I tell him sooner?!" He bolted out of the book room after that, leaving the other three standing there, confused.

"...What? Did he mean by that?" Scarlet asked.

"Quick, we gotta tail him!" Omelette suggested, as she followed Yentoulis out of the room.

Sting looked towards Scarlet. "What was with those two?"

"By god, I wish I knew.." Scarlet said, "but given Yentoulis's reaction, and Omelette going after him, I don't think it's good." she sighed, "Well, there's no real point staying here...We gotta see what Yentoulis was so freaked out about." She hurried off after Omelette, with Sting close behind.

They found that the other two had raced to the dorm hall, more importantly, Xina's dorm. While Yentoulis wasn't in the door, he was standing in front of the door, he was still talking to someone through the door.

"-WHAT?!" a voice, probably Anna's, asked, "Why didn't you bring this up sooner?!"

"I didn't cross my mind until now!" Yentoulis replied, "Xina's gonna have a BAD TIME if we don't treat her right fucking NOW."

"What do you THINK we're trying to do in here, smart gears?!" Another voice, possibly Diane's, "playing ring around the fucking rosy? No! We're trying to treat her ass! What else can we do?"

"Listen, those symptoms Xina's showing right now?" Yentoulis called, "It's the calm before the storm, and when that storm hits-" He was interrupted by a chime playing.

"Ahem, it is 10 o'clock PM!" Monokuma stated over the PA, "As such it is officially..nighttime. At this time, the dining hall is closed off, and entry is prohibited. The lights will be dimmed soon. Good night!" Just after the PA died down, it cracked back to life, and a different voice.

"Would the other 8 students inside Xina's dorm please return to your own dorms?" Ark asked, "I get that she was exposed to a toxic gas and you want to make sure she doesn't die, but please...no sleepovers." The students in the dorm, namely Victor, Mecca, Ellis, Marissa, Drake, Diane, Anna and DM, grumbled as they left the dorm. Scarlet approached DM before he entered his dorm.

"You think Xina's gonna be okay?" Scarlet asked. DM sighed.

"I honestly have no idea," DM noted, "we did all we could, but none of us are the Ultimate Nurse, so I'm not sure if there was anything more we could do, given my limited medical knowledge. And if what Yentoulis said was true...Xina might be out of commission for the next couple of days, too. Which is pretty bad in an environment like this, where we have to kill to escape. Which means someone would have to be on watch to make sure no one sneaks into Xina's dorm and kills her. There's a lot going on, okay? I have a headache now thanks to this mess..." He closed his dorm door after that. Scarlet sighed, then went to her dorm..

"Well, I guess see you tomorrow, then," Scarlet said before closing her dorm door.

Sting smiled where Scarlet once stood. "Night, Scarlet."

He soon made his way to his dorm room, hoping that he wouldn't be killed during the middle of the night…

PROLOGUE: END


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 1: "Cloudy with a Chance of Blizzards"_

The next morning, Sting was rudely awoken by a loud chime, followed by a PA announcement.

"Ahem, Gooooood morning everyone! It is now 7 AM, meaning Nighttime is officially over!" Monokuma announced.

 _Is this going to be a normal thing, too?_ Sting asked himself as he got up and left the dorm.

It didn't take him long to find where most of everyone had gathered, given it was the loudest room in the school. It was the dining hall, as everyone was clambering about Xina, who was in the hall despite the arsine poisoning she had yesterday.

"Simple: I got myself a dose of good memes!" Xina explained, "I'm telling y'all, if memes can cure cancer, they can definitely cure a little arsine poisoning!" Yentoulis gave her a funny look.

"Memes aren't some cure for all illnesses, Rainbow," Yentoulis said, "Arsine is a pretty nasty gas, and just because you feel better now, doesn't mean you're cured."

"Whaaaaat? Do you not understand the power of memes, my dude?" Xina asked, "Memes are the embodiment of all things good! They can-" she stopped suddenly and fell onto her knees, clutching her abdomen in agony.

"Aw, crud…" She whispered, "I think I overdosed on memes…Yento, I don't feel so good..." a "oh goddamnit" slipped from Yentoulis's mouth as Xina sat down a placed her forehead on the table, clearly not feeling any better. Meanwhile, Ellis nervously approached Anna (whom was reading her demonology book), having heard that she was apparently the Ultimate Occultist.

"Umm…" Ellis started, unsure how to talk. Anna closed her book and looked at him with this look that screamed "leave me alone".

"What do you want?" She asked harshly.

"Uhh… Do you really do Occult stuff?" Ellis asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" she mumbled, "Of course I do! What tipped you off, the OCCULT pants I'm wearing, The pentagram shirt, My demonology book, or the very fact that my talent directly ties to occult shit?"

"That… I'll have to get used to. My grandma, may she rest in peace… She outright banned anything which dealt with the occult." Ellis answered back, "Yeah, she was highly religious." Anna's look changed at that.

"Well, yeah, you'll have to get used to it...pretty quickly at that, since there's two people here with talents regarding the paranormal and the demonic," she began, "and damn, a highly religious family member banned that in your house? I'm surprised it didn't drive you to look into the occult. Lucky you, I guess: got the nice side of extreme religion." she cringed after she said that, as if it awoke a memory she had buried.

Marissa shook her head. "Seriously? Why should religious zealots always talk down about our hobbies? Atifact is highly hated in certain religious circles, thanks to them thinking we're summoning demons and the undead." She ranted. "I been playing this game since I was 10, and I haven't summoned that psycho Ted Bundy, so I have that going for me. Seriously, they should learn to deal with it."

"Jeesh, Even a card game can get crap for having demons and undead in it?" Kuro interjected, "What the hell has this world become? Next thing you know, fun is gonna be banned for being unholy or some stupid crap like that." Ellis seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable around Anna, most likely because of all the peeps who were dissing religion.

"I think we're making Ellis feel really unwelcome." Marissa said out loud.

"At least religion memes aren't banned, right?" Xina blurted, "Everyone loves memes, regardless of what the source material is...right?

"And you may have jinxed yourself." Mecca retorted back. Xina groaned. Sting couldn't help but find notice some people were not here, namely...Rex and DM.

"Hey," Sting spoke up, "Did anyone happen to see Rex or DM? They're not here."

"Neither is Chatter Thumbs or Fire Head, Emo," Diane added, "But knowing Rex, he's probably just lost. The guy can get lost somehow in a straight corridor: I just know it."

"So what if he got a little lost? Boo-F'in hoo." Steph agreed as she entered the dining hall.

"Oh god…" Scarlet mumbled, "Getting lost is still pretty bad, y'know! That's usually how murderers find their victims! And let's not forget that we're stuck in a killing game of sorts..."

"Who would honestly be fucking stupid enough to kill on Day 2?" Diane asked sarcastically, "We could pin them down fairly quickly. All in all, I'm 99% sure Metal will be fine." as if on cue, Rex stumbled into the dining hall, followed by DM, who seemed a little irritated over something.

"Yo!" Rex called out, "did I miss anything?" Diane and Steph groaned.

"Oh, nothing…" Steph grumbled. "Except for that blue-maned idiot's self concert."

Indeed, Mecca was now partaking in a little singing to pass the time.

"Life really sucks for us! Here in Hope's Peak!" Mecca sung out. "Murder, Distrust, Psycho Bears... Steph's a total freak~!" Xina snorted, clearly trying to suppress laughter, as it might make her pain worse, but it wasn't working all that well. Steph gave Xina a dirty look.

"Don't even encourage her, rainbow," Steph warned.

"Hey, you try finding a word which rhymes with 'peak', buddy." Mecca pouted.

Drake couldn't help but release a slight smile at the two's singing. DM sighed, taking a glance around the room.

"So it seems almost everyone is here…" He noted, "now, where the hell is Vic-" He was cut off by a sudden "INCOMING!" before getting slammed into by Victor, causing DM to fall over.

"Sorry," Victor said, "Didn't see you there till the last second…" He gave off a nervous laugh.

"Not even day 2, and this happens," DM growled as he stood back up, "Be more careful next time!"

"Regardless, we came here for a reason, correct?" Anna asked, "Perhaps you could bring us up to speed on what we're gonna do next?" DM adjusted his glasses, before speaking.

"Indeed there is," DM noted, "Now then, where do we start-?"

"I dunno." Sting shrugged back.

"I was getting to that, Sting," DM remarked, "Patience. Anyways, we already know what the vents have in store for those who try to escape in that route, but we can't let that destroy us. There's bound to be another solution to this puzzle of a killing game we find ourselves in. So, I propose we split up and look for an escape or clues to what might be going on."

"Wait a second, DM, can I ask you a question?" Diane asked, "Who in their right mind made your unstable ass the leader?"

"Ahem!" Yentoulis cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Stars, but who would you rather have as a leader? Someone who can lead a group around, much like our Dungeon Master here? Or someone who will end up with us meeting our ancestors at the end of the day?"

"I believe you're missing my point, Gears of War," Diane retorted, "Did you happen to miss his mental breakdown yesterday, or are you as ignorant as Rex?"

"Hey!" Rex exclaimed, "what did I ever do to you?!"

"Never mind you," Diane said, waving him off, "My point is, we have far more sane people among our ranks, yet we choose to follow the one who is at a questionable mental state. It's quite curious." DM just shook his head.

"Well then, if you're so concerned about my quote on quote 'mental state' who do you wanna choose to lead? Mecca?" DM asked back, looking at Mecca.

"What, me lead?" Mecca questioned. "You're asking the _wrong_ person. Mecca rather follow, my good man!" Then a sudden, really off-key singing started going off.

"WOULDN'T IT be nice if we were older, then we would-i don't really know the rest of the lyrics!" Xina sang, very badly at that. Some people just looked at her funny.

"Please don't tell me that in Xina's universe, you can get high off of memes, too…" Scarlet groaned.

"Just ignore her," DM said, turning his attention back to Diane, "So, are we done with this argument, or not?" Diane just huffed.

"Fine then," She started, "Go ahead and continue to follow his lead. But don't blame me if you all end up dying." She got up and left the hall, apparently fed up with DM.

"Well, Jiminy Crickets," Victor sighed, "Not even Day 2, and already someone's being picky about how we go about things: Great. Who's gonna be like that next, Steph?"

Steph growled at Victor. "I shall not disclose that question. Conversation CLOSED." Victor jumped a little.

"Wait, what?!" He asked, "Well, then, if you're not gonna answer, how can we trust you? We have no idea when you're gonna betray us and join Diane, and you definitely seem like the type that will, so you could've at least-"

"Victor, control yourself!" DM commanded, "I get it, the possibility of betrayal is a daunting thing to think about, but jumping to conclusions isn't going to help." Victor shut up after that. DM sighed.

"Now with those pointless side banters out of the way…" DM stated, "Are there any requests on who will partner with who?"

"Uh, may I partner up with Marissa?" Ellis asked out loud.

"Yeah, can I?" Marissa asked as well. DM thought about this.

"Fine, you guys can…" He said, "And I doubt Diane's going to return, so we can exclude her from the grouping. Though, I can't help but worry about what she's up to."

"Why not we just get the strongest people we know to drag her back here?" Victor suggested.

"I highly agree to that." Sting nodded in response.

"Yeah, just say the word, and Mecca'll tie Diane up and drag her back here!" Mecca declared.

"Fair idea, but who the actual hell is strong enough to drag around a woman Diane's Size and build?" Scarlet asked, "Let alone subdue her if she does fight?" The room fell into a silence.

"Well, shit…." Anna said, "That's a point I'd rather ignore, but one that is hard to ignore as well." She pointed at Rex and Drake.

"And I highly doubt either of those two can or are willing to drag Diane around," She added.

"Well, any other ideas, genius?" Victor asked, "You brought up the problem, maybe you have a solution?"

"W-well, Who said force was the solution to every problem?" Scarlet responded, "Why can't we just talk to her?"

"I dunno; she kinda rubs me as the mean type." Omelette predicted. "That, and… I think she's ripping on a far-more superior pop artist."

"Well, why not _**I**_ go talk to her?" Scarlet responded, "I can guarantee, through years of journaling experience, that a big name personalities will almost always listen to their fans!" Before anyone could object, Scarlet sped off, in the general direction Diane had stormed off, leaving the room once again in a silence.

"Goddamnit," DM cringed, "Why can't anyone stay here until I finish hearing pairing requests and setting up teams?" He shook his head in annoyance.

"Beats me." Omelette shrugged.

"Anyways," DM continued, "Does anyone else have a person in mind that they would want to travel with-"

"I wanna go with Mecca!" Xina blurted, "She's super fun and also likes memes! We're the meme duo!"

Mecca grinned, as she wrapped her arm around Xina's waist. "Ah, we're bound to have a good time, huh?" Xina gave a stupidly big grin.

"Oh, boy I should've seen that coming…" DM muttered, then cleared his throat, "Anyways, since there are 16 of us, That would mean we can have either 4 groups of 4, 8 groups of 2, or 2 groups of 8. Since we need to make sure no one kills while we're searching for alternative solutions, Partner groups are eliminated. Not only that, we need to cover as much ground as swiftly as possible, groups of 8 people is not an option, either, as 8 people are hard to manage. So, our best option is going to be 4 groups of 4, meaning those who put down requests for partners will have to tolerate two randoms. Is that okay with you?"

Omelette smiled. "Fine by me!"

"As long as they are not total scrubs, I'm a hundred percent chill with randoms," Xina stated, "they say randoms provide the funniest memes!"

"I'm about done with this meeting, so sure, I don't give a fuck about who gets paired with me," Anna stated.

"I honestly don't care, as long as they don't try to kill me!" Rex said, a little too enthusiastically.

"Uhm, Rex, can you not say stuff like that?" Kuro asked, "if we keep mentioning it, it's more likely to happen."

"So if we just pretend everything's fine except we're trapped in the school, no one would kill?" Victor asked, "like hell that would work! We still have to account for a teddy bear and a fennec fox running around-"

"I'M NOT A TEDDY BEAR!" Monokuma yelled, suddenly appearing on the dining table.

"GAAAAAH!" Victor yelled, "What the hell? How did you-?"

"I can hear you, y'know!" Monokuma explained, "Don't think for a second that just because I'm not there doesn't mean I ain't gonna hear your trash talk!"

"...Trash talk?" DM questioned.

"Wait… Can you actually hear us even in the shower?" Omelette spoke up.

"That's, uhm, a super weird thing to ask…" Kuro stated, "do you talk to yourself when you're in the shower or something?"

"Says the man who deals with the paranormal," Anna butted in, "and so what? Usually people sing in the shower, so I'm pretty sure Omelette was meaning that, you dingus."

"Well, uhm...I best not answer that," Monokuma answered, "That would be super creepy if like, I did that, now wouldn't it?"

"Yeah…" Omelette responded towards Monokuma. "Riiiiiggghhhttt…"

"Like you aren't creepy enough as is, Monokuma," Ark said, as he entered.

"Geesh, are you kidding me? We're in the middle of something!" DM said, annoyed, "Could you have picked a better time to come other than now?"

"Woah, easy, Game Master," Ark said, "For one, blame Monokuma for causing a ruckus over being called a teddy bear, and secondly, it appears that a certain someone here thinks they're fine, when in actuality, they are not…" He looked over at Xina.

"Whaaaaaat?" Xina asked, "what are you talking about, you misty fox? I'm fine, trust-" She crumpled to the ground, again in agony.

"Thou shall relax; you're still reeling from that Poison status infliction from yesterday." Marissa suggested.

"Alright, you shits, what the hell have you been doing without me?" Diane said as she returned to the dining room, Scarlet following close behind.

"Ahh!" Mecca grinned. "We were only talking about hot boys. The hottest there are! Even hotter than any of the Paul bros, who I deem as ugly." Diane took one look around the room, and then shot dagger glares at Mecca.

"Yeah, you _totally_ were doing that…" Diane said sarcastically, "Then how the fuck can you explain Mr. half bear and the fennec fox being here?"

"Xina!" Scarlet yelled, as she saw Xina in pain. She raced up to her.

"Xina, by god, are you okay?" Scarlet asked, "Is there still arsine in your system?"

Xina, saying nothing, reached behind her back and put on a golden crown with a pink topping, adorned with large, white spots.

"All hail Xinette!" A loopy Xina declared.

"Xina, now is not the time to be making jokes!" Scarlet said, "Do you even realize you were poisoned by Arsine?"

"Huh? Poison?" Xina asked. "Like that rock group?"

"She's losing it…" Marissa stated.

"I'd say so, too," Rex noted, "When you confuse something very bad to a rock band, you've gone off the deep end."

"A shame, but I can't say I didn't see this coming," Yento noted. Sting shook his head.

"Why can't my lost Talent be Ultimate Poison Control Specialist?" He lamented. DM let out a hard sigh.

"Great, just great," He said, "can someone please guide her back to her room? It doesn't matter what she says: clearly, she's not well enough to help us on this."

"I'll do it!" Mecca volunteered, before approaching Xina, who was still wearing the stupid crown on her head.

"Alright, I believe we overstayed our welcome," Ark noted, "I'd best be going: But I should warn, there is going to be a major event here soon, so keep in mind that, as Monokuma is not the one who likes to constantly remind people." He left at that, dragging Monokuma with him using his misty tails. And with that, everyone went off their own way, As DM decided the meeting had been sidetracked too many times, and it would be better if everyone tried again tomorrow.

:::

With Sting, he was wandering around campus, wondering how he's going to kill the extra time he had on his hands. He walked into the gym, and a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yo, Sting!" it shouted. Sting looked around, and after a while, he found the source: Victor was up on the rafters...somehow.

"...How the hell did you get up there?!" Sting inquired.

"Heh, that's called being the Ultimate Parkourist," Victor replied.

"Whoa, you're quite the acrobat." Sting noted. "Much like one of my dad's friends."

He soon done some thinking, and shook his head.

"...Naaaahhh. I can't be the Ultimate Acrobat. Besides, my dad was a circus clown when he met mom." Sting confirmed.

"You still have no idea what your talent?" Victor asked, "Dang, dude." After shuffling around on the rafters for a while, Victor went back to his previous spot, where he was more visible to Sting.

"Hey, uhm, I hate to ask, but uhm…." Victor said, "you don't mind uhm, lowering this net here? Someone raised it while I was up here, and now I'm uhm….kinda stuck here. I mean, I could get off of here if I wanted to, but I'd rather not add another tally to the number of times I've broken something."

Sting nodded, as he went over to the net, and lowered it for Victor. And with the net lowered, Victor climbed down from the rafters using the net.

"Phew, thanks, bud," Victor said, "I was worried I would be stuck up there for way longer. You know how much it sucks getting stuck somewhere and not having a way out, right?"

"Tell me about it. Me and my family used to travel in the circus before it shut down." Sting responded back. "I would usually get stuck up top on the Ferris Wheel, so I have that going for me."

"Yowch….Must have been terrifying," Victor said.

Sting shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it after a while."

"Wow, really?" Victor asked, "That takes guts, y'know, especially if say, you were afraid of heights or something like that. That probably wouldn't be me, though: I'm more used to heights as well."

Sting did some thinking. "It's the view, isn't it? The view from high up takes the fear away."

"I agree," Victor noted, "Sometimes it's really cool to see everything from a bird's point of view."

"I highly agree. The world looks way different from high up." Sting nodded back. Victor looked at his non-existent watch, and tapped it.

"Oh! Would you look at the time!" Victor noted, "I'd better get going. Well, see you around."

"Laters!" Sting replied back, as the two of them departed.

:::

As Sting left the gym, he heard faint noises coming from the game room. As he got closer, he realized it was...chanting? Whatever it was, Sting's curiosity grew, and he opened to door and looked inside. He saw that it was Anna doing the chanting, and even had lit candles and a demonic circle drawn on the floor. She was looking at a page in her book, and hadn't noticed Sting yet.

"Um… Hey?" Sting greeted himself. Anna screamed, not anticipating the newcomer.

"Have you heard of knocking?!" Anna asked, annoyed, "And, how long have you been standing there, anyways?"

"Just a few seconds." Sting answered back. "Anyways, what you doing?"

"Well, what do you _think_ I'm doing?" Anna asked, "Should be pretty clear what's going on, even if you've been here for only a second!" Sting looked at the rather...odd setup behind Anna.

"Uhm, Calling upon a demonic figure?" Sting guessed, "Ah, let me guess! The demon you're trying to call up is… Who, exactly?"

"You mean Condor, the Demon Beastmaster?" Anna answered.

"Condor?" Sting asked. "Is he some kinda bird?"

"Oh for the love of God, no he's not, you moron!" Anna said, "he's a shadow demon, a special type of demon. But it appears for some reason, he can't be called here...I may have to try calling another demon."

"I hope blood won't be involved…" Sting responded back, shivering a bit.

"Wellllll, I can't say all rituals don't involve a little sacrifice…." Anna said nervously, "uhm, before you get any funny ideas in your head, I use my own blood, and my own only! I'm not gonna be that guy who kidnaps people and sacrifices them to some demon! How crazy do you have to be?"

"Well, at least you aren't like those two creeps who wanted to sacrifice people to Satan." Sting answered back, shivering in fear. "The thought of that just sends shivers down my spine…"

"Geesh, sounds like you had a couple run-ins with occult members, huh?" Anna asked.

"I did hear about this one lesbian girl who encountered one." Sting answered back. "She liked cherries and body piercings… Though I can't recall if she had a lower back tattoo of cherries or not."

"Yikes," Anna said, "I do pray she made it out okay."

"From what I recall… She did." Sting reassured. Anna sighed.

"Guh, sometimes I really hate the people who associate themselves with the Occult," Anna said, "Like, half of the time, people claim to be occultists when they do such heinous acts, as if it's some get-out-of-jail-free card. NO! Don't even think of dragging us down with you in the mud! We're not like you!"

"Easy there, Anna…" Sting instructed. "Yelling won't get us anywhere."

"I think I've ranted long enough with you," Anna said, "Now, if could please, leave this room. I've got a ritual to do, and I'd prefer if you weren't present."

Sting nodded, as he left the room, leaving Anna to her own devices.

:::

It was late in the day, as Sting was wondering around the academy, when he could feel someone staring at him.

"Omelette, you can come out, now." Sting said out loud, without turning around.

"Awww, how you know it was me?" Omelette replied back, almost giggling a bit.

"Who else would glance at butts from a distance?" Sting asked back.

"Alright, you caught me." admitted Omelette. "But what can I say? Your posterior ROCKS!"

Sting chuckled a bit as he turned around. "Heh, I get that a lot…"

"So… What caused ol' Two-Face to have you admitted here, huh?" Omelette asked. "We know you have an Ultimate, we just gotta find it, and unlock it."

Sting stood there. "I… don't even know why I'm here…"

"Ah, amnesia." Omelette answered back. "Perhaps if it'll help, I can help knock some sense into your noggin? See if that'll unjam the gears in your system?"

Sting shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure it'll come back in no time…"

It was too late, as Omelette was already close to Sting's ear.

"YO! STING'S MEMORIES! COME OUTTA HIDING! I'M PROBABLY SURE THAT CRAPPY REMAKE IS CANCELLED!" Omelette shouted right into Sting's ears.

"Ow!" Sting stepped back. "That was your idea?"

"Hey, it worked for that other Protag in another academy." Omelette shrugged. "I think?"

"Well, I still don't remember my talent, and I now have some ringing in my ears." Sting replied back.

"Well, considering you have eight earrings in your ears…" Omelette noted. "Still, sorry for shouting in your ear like that."

Sting smiled. "It's cool. Still, if you wanna try that again, ask for their OK first. Alright?"

Omelette nodded back with a smile. "In either case, I should go. Perhaps sneak a peek at Scarlet's butt?"

She soon sported her usual grin.

"I think she digs me."

Sting let out a chuckle. "Probably. Well, see ya later, Omelette."

:::

"Well, that was...certainly something," Sting said to himself. Suddenly a chime played, and a nearby monitor cracked to life, showing that Ark was on the screen.

"Attention, all students," Ark began, "As much as I'm sure a lot of you would rather stay up and continue your activities, unfortunately it has to come to an end for today, as it is now Nighttime. Certain rooms will now be locked, and the water is shut off." Before he could continue, Monokuma appeared and shoved Ark out of the way.

"Good night, and don't let the bedbugs biiiiite~." He said, before the PA shut off.

"What bedbugs?" Sting asked himself, before he departed to his room, removed his hoodie and shoes, and slumped onto his bed, before going into a deep slumber…

:::

 _Ark's Cinema  
_ " _While Monokuma screws around, throwing philosophical talk around as well as some random nonsense in his theater, I tend to watch over the students, make sure they don't hurt themselves. Uhm, not like, actually be in their rooms watching them sleep, that's creepy! But rather, thanks to the cameras installed in their rooms, I can look around and see if there's anything that needs my attention. And it appears a student hasn't gone to their rooms yet, but for now, I will have to stay out of this: at least, until the student calls my name…."  
_ :::  
Inside Xina's room, Mecca was sitting in a chair, as she watched the Meme Girl. It appeared she was still a bit loopy.

"Umm… Mecca thinks that meme is deader than those guys at the end of Raiders." Mecca said out loud.

"Whaaaaaat?" Xina asked, "What do ya mean Shrek memes are dead?"

"Dude, even Mecca here keeps up with the latest memes, and I think the last time someone done a Shrek meme was… Hell, a pretty long time ago." Mecca answered back.

"Some… BODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS GONNA TELL ME, I AIN'T THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED!" Xina sung out loud extremely badly.

"And that song is ruined forever." Mecca said out loud.

Xina soon noticed the Super Crown on the bed and placed it upon her head again. Looking down at her body, she was disappointed.

"...BOOOOOO!" Xina jeered. "Why are my badonkadonks still small? How come I ain't in a rainbow colored dress? Where's the accessories that comes with Xinette?"

"Perhaps that Super Crown is defective?" Mecca asked, hoping to calm Xina down.

"Are you kidding me?!" Xina asked, annoyed, "Goshdarnit, I was told that this was the actual Super Crown! Where's someone who can verify whenever this thing is real or not?"

"Mecca is not sure herself, sadly." Mecca replied back. "Still, if you truly want to bring out your inner Xinette, then I be happy to help, once we're outta here."

"That'd…."Xina started before pausing, "That'd be amazing. Hey what if we asked politely for one of the headmasters to let us out of here?"

"That wouldn't work." Mecca shook her head. "Remember? You tried to escape once, and it ended up with you getting gassed to near death. I'm talking about when we're free for realsies."

"Yeah, but that's when we tried to force our way out," Xina noted, "I mean, one of them looks nice enough, uhm, what was his name again?"

"I… Think it was Ark?" Mecca answered back. Suddenly, there was a tornado of mist right there in Xina's room, and once it dissipated, Ark was there.

"You called?" Ark asked.

"Yeah, Mecca was wondering when we would get outta here so Xina can get a true Super Crown transformation." Mecca answered back. Ark thought on that for a moment.

"Well, it's a rather...strange reason to want to flee this place," Ark noted, "but, you two seem nice enough. Perhaps-" Ark was cut off when his hand suddenly whipped up and smacked the mask off, cause the fur to turn black.

"Oh, Mecca doesn't like this…" Mecca said.

"Nay!" Ark 2 shouted, "You know the rules: Kill, and you can escape! And I am not letting my brother bend the rules for ANYONE, Ya hear me?!"

Mecca nodded.

"Although…." Ark 2 said, thinking, "Heh, I'd thank you, kind ma'am! I just got the _perfect_ idea for something special y'all will get at the dawn's chime!"

"You're...welcome?" Mecca said, nervously.

"As for what it is: Well, you'll just have to wait!" Ark 2 said, "Cause it wouldn't be a surprise if I revealed it here, now would it? Now if you'll excuse me: I've got VERY important things to take care of! See your sorrowful face later!" He laughed as he left, grabbing the mask on the way out, leaving Mecca and Xina alone.

"Sorry, Xina. I tried." Mecca shrugged. Xina didn't respond: she had fallen asleep, albeit not a steady one, as she was sweating bullets and breathing rapidly….


	4. Chapter 4

Before Sting even knew it, the chime sounded and the PA announcement sounded. But what was odd was that right after the regular announcement, the PA remained on, and another voice took over.

"Attention, all students," The voice, noticeably not Monokuma's, began, "Once y'all get your behinds out of bed, please make your way to the gym! I've got a verrrrry special surprise for you!" the PA shut off after that.

A….surprise? Sting wondered as he got on his shoes and hoodie. After he put them on, he made his way to the gymnasium, where Steph was standing there, yawning.

"Morning, Steph." Sting greeted out loud. "Sleep well?"

Steph gave off a low growl towards Sting.

"I guess that answers my question?" Sting asked.

"Or course I didn't sleep well last night!" Steph responded back in a harsh tone. "How can I even sleep when someone was having a nervous breakdown?"

"Owch," Scarlet said, "Do you know who it was? The person who was mentally breaking down last night?"

Steph took a look towards Drake, who hid behind his sketchbook.

"N-No… Not me. I spent a little of the night drawing…" Drake answered back.

"To be honest. I wouldn't be surprised," Anna said, "Drake doesn't seem like the type to have a hardened mind, if you know what I mean."

"It's only day 2, and someone is already losing their mind here…" DM lamented, "This is not good."

"HEYYYYYYY!" Xina shouted out loud. "I am here, and feeling better now! I just needed a stronger dose of memes, that was all!"

"Xina, now is not the time!" DM said, "Now, I know I heard no mental breakdown, so I'd assume that the person who is losing hope is a person who is a neighbor of Steph's…"

"Which Leaves me, Victor and Drake, as our rooms are near Steph's," Diane noted, "However, I was not the one losing my mind to this place."

"And if Drake is to be believed, that leaves…" DM thought aloud. Steph gave a harsh glare at Victor.

"What?! Why the hell would you think I would be the one losing my mind?" Victor asked, "I've hurt myself more than enough times parkouring, there's no way this place can get to me!"

"Um… You… Cried out for mommy last night." Drake stated.

"I did not!" Victor retorted, "And who the hell refers to their mother as 'mommy' at 15?! That's like, really weird!"

"You," Steph replied back, "And besides, I know it couldn't have been Diane: the person I heard had a masculine voice." Diane smirked.

"One other thing: there was something off about you: nearly two days ago now, when Gears of War over here asked you to go in the vents, you declined," Diane noted, "And if my memory serves me right, you were rather quick to decline, too."

"Well, what's that got to do with a mental breakdown?" Victor asked.

"I dunno. But what I did hear was that the walls were closing down upon him." Ellis answered back. Victor gave Ellis an odd look, as if to say "wait, you heard that, too?"

"Your face says it all, Victor…" Diane said, "it was you...Now, instead of continuing this act of denial, why not you tell us why you were freaking out last night?"

"Well, uhm…" Victor started nervously. However, he was cut when Monokuma and….Ark 2 showed up.

"Well, boy, what did we miss this time?" Monokuma asked.

"We can ask them later about that, Monokuma: we came for a reason!" Ark 2 said, "and I'd rather not keep these petty souls waiting!"

"I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this…" Kuro noted.

"Who doesn't?" Anna asked, "these two just scream bad vibes wherever they stand, so if that's any condolences, you're not the only one."

"And now the moment you all have been waiting for!" Monokuma started, "The MOTIVE!" The room fell silent.

"The...Motive?" Drake asked.

"Yepper do!" Ark 2 said, "Y'all weren't really doing any shanking, so me and Monokuma here figured it would be best to try to push you a liiiiiitle more! And what better way to accomplish that then a motive! I mean, no killer is without a motive!" Ark 2 snickered as he revealed a piece of paper, which was hiding in a mist tail. He took the paper and unfolded it, before peeping inside.

"Annnnnd for this lovely day, our motive is a simple one: if you kill and get away with it, you will take one person with you to the outside world! How Splendid is that?" Ark 2 noted, as he looked at the students, only to be greeted with 16 weird looks.

"That is really unfair." Marissa stated. "Why would we take down one of our own and leave with one, while everyone else just bites it?"

"Welll, better that 2 people leave this school if y'all fail rather than one, now is it?" Ark 2 replied, "and besides, I can tell that a number of you wouldn't want to die, now would you?

"Hell no!" exclaimed Mecca. "Mecca here has temples to explore! Treasures to discover! An awesome tattoo of that map that girl had on her back during Waterworld to get!"

Yentoulis blinked at Mecca. "You actually watched that bomb?" Diane crossed her arms and huffed.

"Well, then what if we don't have any person in particular we want to spare?" Diane asked, "Do we just not pick anyone, or…?"

"Gee, that's cold." pouted Omelette. Ark 2 looked at Diane funny, as if he didn't expect such a cold question. He poked Monokuma on the shoulder, shaking the bear from his brief slumber.

"Wow…." Monokuma stated, as he awoke, "Well in that case, guess random chance will decide that!"

"Aw, geez…" Sting muttered.

"Well, we've stayed long enough!" Monokuma announced, "See you when the blood is on the walls!" He disappeared with a laugh, followed by Ark 2.

"...Will they ever stop doing that?" Rex asked, "That is like, way too creepy for my liking."

"Well, keep giving them a reaction, and they sure as hell will keep doing it," Anna replied.

Now that the meeting from last night was finished up, the students decided that only a handful of students will do the exploration: Scarlet, Yento, and Mecca. Xina, however, was still having episodes of pain, and as to quell the worry that something will happen to Xina, DM volunteered to keep an eye on her. This left all of the other students on their own, so they parted ways and went to do their own things.

:::

Sting, meanwhile, was walking through the halls, as someone whistled for him.

"Hey, you bad boy…" they called out.

Sting sighed. "...Steph. Even by looking at her double ear piercings, I just know she's bad news. Triple ear piercings, and they're suddenly okay, again."

"Sooooooo… Word on the street is that I've been hearing a rumor about your lovely Scarlet." Steph rang out loud. Sting whipped around to face Steph.

"What were you planning to say about her?" Sting asked firmly. "If you dare harm one blue hair on her pretty head..."

"Wow, you honestly think I'm that low, that I would get my hands dirty in her blood?" Steph asked.

"Well, probably in a past life…" muttered Sting.

"Excuse me?" Steph asked, annoyed, "I don't see how you would be any better than me: You acted quite curious when I mentioned a rumor."

"Well, you are the Ultimate Gossip Girl. You spread rumors, and 99.99% of the time, they turn out to be true." Sting answered back.

"Texter and Gossip girl are not the same things, you dumbass," Steph replied, "and sure, maybe I pick up on rumors, but you should know, everyone loves rumors…" She smirked at that thought.

"Just like the Grinch Leak…" Sting muttered. "Boy, I had one hell of a brain fart."

"And just for that, perhaps I'll keep you hanging for quite a while, Sting." Steph concluded. She turned to leave, but Sting stopped her.

"Hey, wait a sec!" Sting called out to her, "I gotta ask: What the hell is your problem with the rocker guy? Every time I see you and him in the same room, you always seem to be disgusted with him! Do you know him or something?"

Steph smirked back. "That's for you to find out on your own. Chao, Ultimate Amnesiac Boy."

She was soon out of sight, as Sting stood there, staring at where Steph once stood.

"But… Aren't all Ultimates who are main characters amnesiac?" Sting asked himself.

:::

A while later, when Sting approached the gym, he heard quite beautiful singing coming from the stage. He entered the gym to see Diane singing on stage, alone.

"That's a wonderful song, Diane." Sting said out loud. Diane looked at him, quite touched by his words.

"Why thank you, Sting," Diane replied back, taking a bow, "I'm honestly surprised you came in here: I thought no one entered here unless the monochrome duo dragged us here..."

"So, how long have you been singing for?" Sting asked.

"Quite some time….No artist ever gets to their skills in one night, outside of fairy tales…" Diane replied, not really looking at him.

"You do remind me of a artist I do listen to: Stella Starr." Sting explained. "Only she has more of a star motif going on…"

"Stella Starr...Never heard of her, but I am quite curious as to how we are similar…" Diane inquired.

"Well… The star earrings, for one." Sting said. "Though hers is of a more open shape while yours is solid. And she has several pairs, each of them a separate color of the rainbow. While yours is all rainbow."

"Ah, so only our physical looks are similar….quite strange, isn't it?" Diane replied, "Have you ever wondered why all the female pop singers look the same? I find it quite irritating."

Sting shrugged. "Beats me. The ones I did listen to were Stella Starr, and Katy Perry."

He soon looks down in shame.

"And yes, I did get the Sims 3 Katy Perry Sweet Treats pack." Sting concluded, looking ashamed.

"My, that seems like a rather...out there pack to get," Diane said, looking rather puzzled, "But regardless, back to my point: it always irritates me whenever I am called 'just another pop star', but...at the same time, what are going to do? If you try to be unique, you'll find out quickly that about a dozen stars have already done that…" She sighed.

"Listen, Sting: you think you have it hard being unique in the normal crowd? That's nothing against the world of music and pop: take my word on that." Diane concluded.

Sting nodded. "Alright, I understand."

:::::

Since he had just a little more time left to kill, he decided to see how Xina was doing. Once he approached the door, he remembered that DM had volunteered to keep an eye on Xina, just to make sure she didn't do anything too stupid. Maybe DM should have a break, he thought, he's been working so hard: surely he must be wearing himself thin. He knocked on Xina's door, and sure enough, DM was the one to answer.

"Oh, Sting!" He said, "what is it? Did something go wrong?"

"DM, I think you should take a break for a bit," Sting suggested, "I mean, you've done a lot for us, Xina especially, but you're still human, y'know? You'll drive yourself crazy if you keep this up." DM sighed.

"I know that, but….how can I be sure no one will take advantage of my absence?" DM asked.

"Mecca shall protect her, I'm sure of it." Sting answered back. "For now…"

He soon offered a hand towards DM.

"Whatta say? Perhaps we can start up a DnD campaign?" Sting offered. DM chuckled.

"You sure you want to attempt a campaign on your own? Many campaigns are built to accommodate multiple players, and as such will be a tremendous task for one lone person," DM mentioned, "But perhaps, I can make it work."

"Well, there is always Marissa and Ellis. Perhaps we can ask them to join in?" asked Sting.

"Perhaps, if you can locate them," DM responded, "Remember, I've been keeping an eye on Xina this entire time, and as such, I have no idea where people went off to."

"I hear ya; I'm still trying to figure heads or tails outta this place." Sting admitted.

"Hence why I chose who I picked out for exploration," DM explained, "Scarlet's a journalist, and as such will more than likely write everything she's seen down, Mecca is a natural-borne explorer, and Yento….well, you never know when you'll find something that can be re-wired to help us out."

"Well, that's true with all three of them." Sting agreed.

"Indeed," DM added, "And I can only hope something good can come out their exploration: otherwise, we may need a change of plans."

"Ah, yeah." Sting nodded. "Hopefully they can think up some kind of plan at some point."

"At least they would be more prepared than half of the parties I DMed for…" DM said, "sometimes, I don't understand why people would just run in and expect things to go well for them." DM turned away for a second, as if thinking about something.

"But, I suppose it's a good thing that a D&D campaign can be so flexible," DM added, "for the most part, people will always do what you don't expect them to do when playing a character: at this point, it's just the nature of the game. Sometimes it's irritating, sure, but sometimes it makes for some good laughs."

"Heh, ain't that the truth." Sting chuckled a bit. DM took a look at the clock on the wall, noticing the time.

"Oh! The time is near!" DM noted, "Best we hurry to the dining hall: I'll go wake Xina and let her know of this, you go on ahead without me." Sting turned to leave, but DM stopped him with a final word.

"Oh, and by the way: Thanks," DM said, "I needed that break way more than I thought I did: I feel a lot better now."

Sting smiled at DM. "No problem. It's what I do best."

He soon thought for a bit.

"Maybe that's my secret talent?" Sting pondered.

:::

Meanwhile, when everyone was in the hall, Scarlet, Omelette, and Yentoulis were nearby as everyone was awaiting some good news, feeling rather eager.

"Alright, so uhm...which one of us want to start?" Scarlet asked. Right then, Ark 2 suddenly poofed right onto the table.

"Congratulations! You found absolutely nothing!" Ark 2 proclaimed. A range of voices rang out, confused.

"Wait, don't listen to him, we actually found something of interest!" Scarlet protested.

"No, you found nothing!" Ark 2 retorted, "stop pretending that some random thing you found is actually interesting, much less useful!"

"Soooo... this random piece of clothes I found is actually useless?" Omelette asked Ark 2, holding up a pair of boxers with tiny Monokuma faces all over.

"What?! Where did you get that? Who would even wear something as bland as that?!" Ark 2 asked in alarm.

"Well…" Omelette said, as she inspected the boxers. "It does have the name Ark 2 sewn together with-"

"Enough!" Ark 2 snapped at Omelette, as he snatched away the boxers.

"Stop sidetracking us, Ark 2!" Scarlet said, annoyed, "We did actually find something, rather a switch or something like it!"

"Still totally useless!" Ark 2 responded, "no connection to nothing, it's just there for show!"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Yentoulis stated, as he looked over at Scarlet. "Scarlet? Mind flipping the switch?" Without due hesitation, she grabbed the switch and flipped it...nothing happened.

"See? I told you! Totally useless!" Ark 2 explained, "It ain't connected to nothing, and as such it won't affect anything unless someone wired it so!" Yentoulis smirked at that statement.

"You do know who you're speaking to, right?" Yentoulis asked. "I betchya I can get this thing a-working in nearly no time."

"Last I checked, you were not an electrician, robo-boy!" Ark 2 stated, "How in the flying saucers are you going to wire a switch and make it do what you want it to do, and not accidentally do anything else?!"

"G-Geesh, never have I ever seen Ark 2 this salty," Xina pointed out, "did he get teabagged after getting 360 no scoped and dabbed on?"

"Add in a Fortnite dance and that would add even MORE salt to the wound." Mecca stated. "And now Mecca feels like washing her mouth out with lavender soap for even referencing that."

"Regardless, outside of trying to rain on our parade, why are you here?" DM asked Ark 2.

"Oh no reason, outside of informing you that your efforts are gonna be futile preeeeeetty soon, if you know what I mean." Ark 2 stated, winking, Soon a chime played, and the PAs cracked to life.

"Ahem! It's 10 PM now, so you know what that means! Water is off, certain rooms will be locked, and such forth. Now get out of the dining hall and get to bed! Sweet dreams~!" Monokuma announced, shutting off the PA after that.

"Welp, that's my cue to leave," Ark 2 mentioned, "See you losers later ,and pray none of you are dead by daylight," he left at that, laughing at his little joke.

Steph soon turned to leave. "I'm also following Ark 2's example. See you later!" She said, as she left for her room, muttering about this being a waste of time.

"Geesh, what's wrong with her today?" Kuro asked.

"Blame Victor, he kept her up late," Anna replied. Victor opened his mouth to protest, but Anna gave him a dirty look to shoot him down before he could speak.

"Eh, let's just go to the chill zone," Xina suggested, "I lowkey am getting tired from all this heat, so I'll see y'all with the next big meme!" She left with one last wink towards the departing group.

:::

Ark's Cinema

"My apologies for the lack of appearance this day: my brother just would not let me have a turn! He was constantly rambling about how someone's going to kill tonight, or someone's going to die tonight...while it's quite irritating, he's my brother, I can't just cast him aside due to one character trait I dislike. Guess that's how it is with siblings: no matter how much bullshit they throw your way, you put up with them because, in the end, they're still your sibling, your blood relative. As such, I would ask Ark 2 if he could do me a favor and let me at least tonight, to see what the students who are still wandering the halls late at night are up to…"  
:::::

In Marissa's room, both she and Ellis are currently engaged in a game of Atifact.

"And I gotchya, buddy!" Marissa rang out, tossing a card down. "Your Pato Catman takes 300 LP away from my Rhanadad Reaper, defeating it. That's game!"

She gave off a sweet smile towards Ellis. "You're getting better and better at this!"

"Yeah, I am for a beginner." Ellis responded back. "Total thanks for teaching me, Marissa."

"Hey, it's what a champ would do." Marissa said, with a gentle smile. "Been that way since I was 11 and I won the Junior Regionals."

"Lucky; when I was 11, I was forced into some Christian Summer Camp. And boy, it felt more like a prison than your usual camping grounds." Ellis replied back. "But everynight after light's out…"

While Scarlet was walking to her dorm, she passed by the dorm of Marissa, and overheard some of their conversation. Curious, she stopped, and listened in, wondering what they were talking about.

"...I would tell my fellow campers some stories I made up in my head. In an attempt to ease them off of the pure hell we were suffering." Ellis continued. "Everyone enjoyed my stories, at least, until I got caught and expelled from camp. That kind of stunt had my parents FURIOUS at me, and… Well, I was disowned by my folks."

He sighed.

"Why can't I have normal parents?" Ellis lamented. "At least my sis was willing to take me in after all of that, but still…"

Marissa put a comforting hand on Ellis' shoulder.

"Some parents are just like that, Ell. They don't deserve such a sweet cake like you. You deserve someone who'll care for you. Someone who'll help you out when everything goes wrong." Marissa stated. "Perhaps after we escape from this dungeon… Maybe I'll take you in as an Apprentice in Atifact. Whatta say?"

Ellis gave off a sweet smile. "Thanks, Marissa. I'll think on it."

"Also, I been thinking… After you explained about how you spread stories to your fellow campers… I don't think Ultimate Liar works for you anymore." Marissa continued. "You think Ultimate Story-Teller works for you better?"

Ellis chuckled back, blushing a bit. "Yeah, I think so. Besides, who made a living lying off to randos?"

"Oh, I can think of a few…" Marissa sung out. "Particularly those who would ruin a good Thanksgiving Day…"

Hearing that their conversation was coming to a close, Scarlet, began to write down everything she heard in her notepad, Especially stuff regarding Ellis's true talent, his stories, and the considered better talent, alongside the speculation of a blooming relationship between the two. She moved away from the door, hoping to not get hit by it again, only to trip of some loose carpet. Praying to god no one heard her, she hurried back to her dorm before either of them could look into the hall to check if someone was there.

:::

On her way back, she noticed that someone's door was slightly ajar. Unsure or the reason, Scarlet peeked inside the room, to see….

No, she wasn't seeing this, she tried to reason, she didn't just walk into…

Not wanting to look at it anymore, she quickly closed the door, and hurried back to her dorm, her heart racing. Once inside, she locked the door, and then blocked the handle with a chair. Her feeling of security was gone, she did not feel safe anymore. She tried to forget the sight and sleep, but it still danced around, taunting her in her sleep...

:::

Early the next day, the intercoms cracked to life.

"GOOOOOODDD MORNING, EVERYONE! It is now 7am, and nighttime is officially over! The earth says hello, and all that jazz. Rub the sleep outta your eyes and get ready to greet a beautiful day!" Monokuma chimed out before the intercoms went silent.

Sting grumbled, as he slowly got dressed, and made his way to the Dining Hall. He noticed that Scarlet was one of the first people there, and as such decided to greet her.

"Hey, Scarlet, nice to see you this early in the morning!" Sting greeted brightly as he could, as he grabbed up a donut. Scarlet looked up from her notepad.

"Oh, Hi, Sting, uhm...nice to know no one's tried to kill you yet," She responded. Sting found that oddly weird: Was this place starting to get to her?

"I usually remember to lock my door at night before I hit the sack." said Sting, as he bit into his donut. "Hmm, chocolate glaze." Other students began to enter the hall, but once Ellis entered with Marissa, Scarlet started to act weird again: it almost seemed like she knew something about him that she felt she shouldn't have learned, and it was beginning to bug her a lot.

Marissa noticed Scarlet. "Soooo, what's up with you? You seem like you saw a Ghastly Goblin Gritter."

"Let me guess; scary as heck?" Ellis asked.

"Sooooo scary, their design had to be toned down for rereleases of the monster." answered Marissa. "I keep the original one wrapped in shrinkwrap and in a plastic case."

"Uhm…" She started, but stopped, beginning to fiddle with her pencil as she looked at her notepad, which was open to a page.

"I dunno, a monster might be a bit of a stretch, unless stacking motives is a thing," Kuro pointed out. Marissa peaked at the page, and noticed some of the words on it seemed oddly familiar.

"Um, where you get this info?" Marissa asked. "How'd you find out that Ellis-"

She soon halted herself, as to not expose Ellis' secret. Scarlet began to turn pale in the face, as if she didn't want to admit something.

"Whatever, dork; that dime store teddy bear's picnic reject'll probably butt in at some point today." Steph pointed out. No one appeared at those words. Curious, Sting looked at the page Scarlet had opened.

"Ellis got thrown out of a summer camp?" Sting asked, as Ellis winced at those words.

"Sting!" Marissa scolded towards the emo.

"Oops… Sorry, Ellis," Sting apologized. Ellis looked less upset towards Sting, but more at the journalist who recorded his secrets on paper.

"Scarlet, please….How did you know about that?" Ellis asked, "did someone tell you? Or…." he stopped himself. It didn't take a genius to figure out from Scarlet's face how she learned of Ellis's secrets.

"Aha!" Steph proclaim, "I see now: you just couldn't help yourself, could you, Ms. Hanson? That info was just too good to pass up, am I right?"

"I prefer Encyclopedia Brown." Omelette spoke up. "He's more of a detective than Hanson could ever be."

"I wasn't talking to you!" Steph responded back towards Omelette.

Scarlet continued to sit there, silently, with her skin tone paling.

"This is totally going on my future blog. So, got anything else you want to tell us, Journalist? Or are you just gonna sit there all scared now that you've been busted?" Steph asked. Luckily for Scarlet, the doors to the Dining Room swung open, and someone ran inside, out of breathe and clearly in an intense panic. Everyone turned towards the door, and noticed it was Victor.

"E-E-e…" Victor stuttered, unable to say the words quite yet due to the panic and lack of breath in his lungs.

"Alright, just sit down, and calmly tell us what happened..." Drake suggested. While Victor did indeed sit down after getting a glass of water, he still couldn't quite say anything yet: his adrenaline hadn't worn off yet.

"S-s….." Victor continued to stutter.

"Victor, no one's going to hurt you, you're safe," DM reassured, "now, can you please tell us what happened? Did someone attack you?"

"I don't think so," Anna said, "He doesn't have any wounds on his body to suggest someone tried to kill him."

"Maybe he witnessed a…." Kuro cut himself off. But at that, Victor nodded.

"Oh no…" DM cringed. But before Victor could spill the beans on what he saw, another scream echoed the halls, this one sounding more feminine.

"What the hell?!" Rex asked. The intercom crackled again, to the surprise of many, and a brand new chime played.

"A body has be discovered!" Monokuma and Ark 2 announced together.

Sting's heart sunk. "Shit…"

"That's not good…" Kuro commented

"After some time, a class trial will be held. Please use this time to investigate and try to figure out who did the killing! Or use it however you like….I don't care," Ark 2 pointed out.

"Alright, roll call. I know you're here, Scarlet. As thus Ellis and Marissa." Sting pointed out.

"And even Steph is here." Omelette spoke up.

"The only ones I don't see here are Yento, Xina and Mecca…." Anna said as she looked around the room.

"Yeah, where are those three losers?" Steph asked.

"I'd hope none of them are dead, but given the announcement, I can't say for sure," DM replied, "C'mon, let's go find them: quickly!" He hurried off after those words.

Sting nodded, as he soon started to follow DM, with a few of the students following behind him as well. Scarlet looked towards Sting, a sad look in her eyes.

"I, uhm…" Scarlet began, "You know how sometimes you learn things you wish you didn't find?"

"That can wait for later." Marissa said, as she ran past Scarlet. At that, Scarlet stopped talking and kept close behind the group of students.

Once the group reached the dorms, they found Mecca, standing by an ajar dorm door, shaking. Her hands seemed to be stained with blood.

"I… I…" Mecca muttered.

"What happened?" Sting asked

"More importantly, why does she have blood on her hands?" Anna asked, "That seems quite strange."

At that point, Mecca fainted on the spot.

"Well, Shit," Diane said, "no point in asking her, either, huh?" Sting took a look at the dorm room door, and shivering, he soon opened it and walked inside.

What he saw, he would keep with him for the rest of his days. He hoped that nobody would get killed, but those dreams were quickly dashed away in almost an instant…

Xina Morph, the Ultimate Prankster, was lying motionless on her bed, in a pool of her own blood, with several stab wounds and a slit throat cutting it clean open…

:::::::

Sting took a step back at the horrors at what he saw.

"Xina's… dead." Sting muttered out loud.

"WHAT?" DM asked, taken aback, "I-I just...I took my eyes off of her for the night and this happens?!" He couldn't stop his shaking, as he punched a wall in anger.

"Dammit! If only I stayed with her for the night, this wouldn't have happened!" DM shouted.

"Then it would be both you and Xina," Anna pointed out, "Look, stop beating yourself up over this: I hate to be the bad guy, but if someone wanted Xina dead, they would've killed her regardless of your presence. And perhaps they'd kill you as well, so there would be no witnesses."

"Well, they clearly did a bad job, considering that Victor was there," Diane said.

"I don't think he ever confirmed that he saw something: all he did was nod, which doesn't tell you much when you think about it," Kuro pointed out.

"But on the bright side, we've already got a suspect." Steph spoke up, as she looked down at the still fainted Mecca on the floor, her hands still stained with blood…

The case really was afoot now, but the real question is…

Who done it?

AN: Forgot to play catch up with these chapters Oops My Bad. Prepare for a sudden up in Chapters, cause I gotta catch up and post these here.  
Also, BG art was By BaconBaka, Character art was by me.  
Final note, if this gets posted and it's in Comic Sans, IDK how that happened or why :(


	5. Chapter 5

"H-h-how did this happen?!" Rex asked in cold sweat, "Why?"

"I'm pretty sure it's obvious…." Anna pointed out, "Someone wanted out of here, and Xina was just...well-"

"Anna, please!" Scarlet asked shakily, "just….cut it out. I don't want to hear anyone calling anyone else a target. She….had as much or a right to live as all of us."

"But it's true, is it not?" Anna asked. Steph chuckled a little.

"For a woman who calls herself the hunter of the absolute truth, you sure as hell can't accept some of the world's truths, huh?" Steph said. This seemed to set off Scarlet a little.

"Sh-Shut up!" She snapped, "Just because I'm a journalist doesn't mean I have to be so pessimistic! If I'm pessimistic, than the truth will be lost in my bias!" Before things got too ugly, Monokuma appeared where by Xina's door.

"My, my! About time, I'd say!" Monokuma said, "How long has that girl lingered after that Arsine exposure?"

"Roughly three days, I guess." answered Sting.

"Three whole days….I can only imagine the suffering she was going through," Anna lamented.

"Anyways, I am here to give you a special tool for your investigation: The Monokuma File!" Monokuma declared, tossing a ton of files everywhere, before swiftly picking them up before anyone could grab them.

"That was just for show," Monokuma added, "The real file has already been sent to you via your handbook! How convenient, isn't it? You don't have to carry even more stuff while investigating!" And with that, a ding noise came from everyone's handbook. Without much reason not to, Sting took out his handbook and turned it on, revealing an autopsy report.

AUTOPSY REPORT 1

Victim's Name: Xina Morph

Time Of Death: 11:45 PM of previous day

Time Of Discovery: 12:15 AM

Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds, as thus a slit throat. It's unclear whenever the stab wounds or the slit throat did her in, as they seemed to have been made relatively the same time. There was also poison in her system from an earlier day.

"Wait, so she was dead the night before?" Diane questioned.

"I would have to assume that she bled out after the deed was done." Omelette speculated.

"This...this is not good, man…" Rex stuttered, "Whoever did this, definitely has some issues."

"Thank you, Captain obvious," Diane said, sarcastically, "maybe next time when a murder happens, I should consult you to make a psychological profile of our killer."

"Well, crap…." Kuro signed, "Guess we have no choice in this matter, huh? Guess we gotta catch our killer." Most people nodded in agreement, and went their own separate ways, leaving Sting and Scarlet by themselves with an unconscious Mecca by Xina's door.

"Well… This is a load of crap." Sting said to Scarlet, as some moaning was being heard.

"Urrrggghhh…" Mecca moaned, as she looked up at the two.

"Oh, you're awake!" Scarlet said, "About time, I think we've got a few questions to ask you, if you don't mind too much…."

"Alright. But just to be clear, I didn't kill her." Mecca defended back. "I may be a bit on the wacky side, but murder is one thing I would NEVER do."

"I didn't assume you were the murderer, but okay?" Scarlet replied, a little confused, "Anyways, when you found Xina's body, do you recall seeing anything else that was...off about her room?"

"Well… There was a significant lack of blood on the walls…" Mecca answered. "I am pretty sure that a slit throat would cause blood to spit out like a geyser." Scarlet opened to a new page and scribbled it down.

"And if I recall, you and Xina were close pals, so I'd imagine you saw the inside of her room a lot?" Scarlet added on, "could you describe what it looked like originally?"

"Sure." Mecca nodded. "It had some meme stuff, some plushie of a Nyan Cat…" Scarlet quickly peeked into Xina's room, while writing.

"Where?" Scarlet asked, "I don't see a plushie anywhere in this room…" Confused, Mecca peeked into the room as well, trying her best not to gag at the sight of Xina's corpse.

"...It's not there." Mecca said. "She would never part with her Nyan Cat. She always sleeps with it."

She soon gave a look towards the two.

"Don't judge."

"Perhaps… It's in the bathroom?" Sting asked. "Maybe whoever done Xina in… Perhaps some blood also got on the plush as well, leading to them trying to wash it?" On a hunch, the trio entered the room and opened the bathroom door.

In the sink, was a soaked plushie of the internet meme, Nyan Cat.

"Huh?" Scarlet asked, touching the plush, "it's still wet?" She turned her attention to the bath/shower, and when she looked in the bathtub, there was an object in the bathtub.

"Hey guys….I think this might be important," Scarlet said. Mecca and Sting went over to the bathtub and looked in it while scarlet wrote down everything.

"A bucket?" Sting asked, resisting the urge to pick it up and look inside.

"Perhaps the bucket was used, cause remember what Monokuma does every night at 10?" Mecca asked.

"Wait, if that's the case, then that means…." Scarlet began.

"This murder was...planned," Sting finished.

"But why wash the _plushie_?" Mecca asked, "The walls are dry, so it wasn't used on them...but I have to wonder...why go through so much trouble of filling and carrying a bucket to wash a stuffed animal?"

"Maybe that wasn't it's only purpose?" Scarlet suggested.

-Truth bullet added: Bucket-

Once the bucket was taken care of, the three turned their attention to where the plushie sat: the sink.

Sting took a closer look at the plushie. There appeared to be some faint blood stains upon it as well.

"And the plushie is also stained with blood as well." Sting noted. "It's hard to get blood out of cloth, believe me. I know."

"That's weird," Scarlet noted, "Somehow the killer kept the walls clean of blood, but they failed to keep the plushie clean?"

"Like I said, Xina loved that plush," Mecca replied, "if you wanted it, you'd have to pry it from her cold, dead fingers."

"That's kind of a dumb reason to kill someone…" Scarlet remarked, "but I've seen people commit similar crimes over sillier things, so I can't really judge…"

"Agreed. I see many a news report about people tearing each other limb to limb on Black Friday." Sting stated. "But enough about that…"

He took a closer look at the plushie. It had noticeably taken a beating: there was an area by the stitches where the plushie was ripped. But upon closer inspection, he noticed something inside the stuffing.

"Hey, what's this?" Sting asked, slowly taking out the odd object. It looked like a note of some kind. Sting opened it, and read its contents aloud.

"To whoever receives this plushie, I want to tell you I'm terribly sorry its original owner did not live," Sting read, "I wish not for it to come down to this, but...I rather would see her be free of her agony than have to live on and suffer. I confess, I did the crime...now, the only mystery is will you find me?" Sting lowered the note, unsure how to process it. It was not signed, meaning their job will not be any easier, but the fact that the killer had either enough remorse or confidence in themselves to leave this note, which seemed to be a half-taunt, half-remorseful apology.

"The killer's got some guts, confessing to the crime but hiding in anonymity," Mecca said.

"I'm adding this to the case file." Sting stated.

-Truth bullet: Confession Note-

"I think it's time we leave this room and ask some of the other students…" Scarlet said, "not that I dislike being here! It's just...I think we've found all we can find here."

"Not yet." Sting responded back, as he noticed Mecca's blood stained hands. "Why are your hands stained with blood?"

"...I tried to revive her." Mecca admitted. "I tried everything I could think of…"

She kicked a nearby wall.

"...I'm weak. I couldn't even prevent my friend from dying…" Mecca whimpered.

"Mecca…" Scarlet said slowly, "You can still do _something_. You can find who put her through that awful experience, and you can see justice served for your friend. Trust me, I know: the absolute truth is an amazing thing in the world of law." Sting didn't say anything, but he did make note of Mecca's reasoning. Soon after, they left Xina's room, hoping evidence had been tracked elsewhere.

-Truth Bullet: Mecca's account-

Out in the halls, the trio noticed Drake pacing nervously back in forth in the halls. _This murder must have really gotten to him_ , Sting thought as they approached him.

"This is bad… Really bad…" Drake muttered in fear.

"Yeah, no one's denying that…" Scarlet said, "But what are we gonna do about it?"

"What if… What if I have to explain what happened?" Drake stammered. "Even I wouldn't know what to do…"

He soon got an idea.

"Wait… I do remember some stuff from my childhood… When I was waiting for cartoons to start up, I would watch court shows. Maybe…" Drake went on.

"Yeah...that..totally represents real courts," Scarlet trailed off, "Anyways, uhm, you wouldn't mind if we, uhm, asked you some questions regarding your whereabouts during the night. Is that alright?"

"Sure." Drake nodded. "First off, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to watch some toons to try to get myself drowsy."

"So that means you were in your room for the entire night?" Scarlet asked, hoping for a clearer answer, "Anyways, I guess the next question would be, well, did you hear anything weird outside, like oh I don't know, quick footsteps?"

"...I did, but only for a bit." Drake admitted. "The next episode was loading up, and that's when I heard a pitter-patter of sorts…"

"Pitter patter? Like...running?" Scarlet speculated as she jotted things down.

"Yeah…" Drake answered back.

"Interesting," Sting noted.

"So someone ran by Drake's room at night...perhaps whoever it was..." Scarlet speculated.

"Murderer, perhaps," Mecca interjected.

TRUTH BULLET GAINED: Drake's account  
-

Some way down the hall, Kuro was standing around, a little aimless on what he should be looking for, or in deep thought. It was hard to tell with him.

"Uhm, Kuro? What are you doing over here?" Sting asked, confused.

"Oh, hey Sting," Kuro replied, looking at him, "How's been your investigation?"

"Well, it hasn't quite finished, so I can't really say," Sting replied, "and uhm-"

"Honestly, I have no idea where to begin in my own investigation," Kuro cut off Sting, "There just seems to be a ton to look for, but I'm not sure which is most important, cause like, I'm no crime investigator or anything, unlike maybe Scarlet."

"Hmm…" Sting thought.

"Oh, you're just as guilty as any of us, you 'tard." Steph spoke up, walking into view. The four jumped a little from the sudden appearance of Steph, not expecting anyone to barge into this conversation.

"What?!" Scarlet asked, "Steph what are you doing here? And Guilty?! Where's your evidence?"

"Oh, there's no need to prove anything; that living stillborn Mecca? She's guilty as charged. Did you notice her hands?" asked Steph.

"Murder isn't the only reason people can have blood on their hands!" Scarlet responded, "Why are you this stubborn about Mecca being our prime suspect?"

"Why? Simple; she's crazy!" Steph responded back. "Who else would speak in the third person? None of us." The situation was once again getting tense between Scarlet and Steph, leaving Sting, Kuro and Mecca to watch on awkwardly.

"Uhm…." Kuro started, "Should we just bail before we somehow get roped into this, or do we try breaking it up?" Kuro started to back away from the scene of the tension, clearly not wanting to stick around, but stopped suddenly.

"Hey wait a second!" Kuro realized, turning to Mecca, "Mecca, after the nighttime announcement went off, where did you go? Did you meet anyone in the halls?"

Mecca shook her head. "No, I didn't."

"That's not really helping your case at all, Mecca!" Scarlet exclaimed, startled. Sting shook his head.

"Look, if you honestly believe Mecca killed Xina, how about you go find a way to prove it beyond 'she speaks in third person and had blood on her hands when we saw her'?" Sting told Steph, tired of having to deal with her.

"Urgh, fine." Steph groaned, as she walked off.

"Geesh, quite a trouble-maker huh?" Kuro asked, "Well anyways, I think now I know where to start: So what about you two? Did you see anyone in the halls when you guys went back to your rooms?"

"No...not really," Sting replied, "Not a single person on my route, much less anyone acting strange."

"Same here…" Scarlet added, "H-how about you, Kuro? You brought up the question, you should be prepared to answer it."

"Uhm, well…." Kuro started, "I didn't see anyone unusual myself...when I first went to my room. But I uhm, couldn't sleep. So I ended up leaving my room during the night, seeing if a little walking around would help tucker me out enough to sleep." Scarlet was scribbling his words down on the notepad as fast as her hand would let her.

"And…?" Scarlet asked, "Did you see someone?

"Well, it was someone, about my height, who raced by...but I couldn't tell you anything beyond-" Kuro started, before being cut off by the intercom

"Attention, everybody! It's almost time for our Trial! If you haven't found any juicy evidence by now, then too bad, so sad. Boo-ho-ho-ho!" Monokuma cried out, almost mocking everyone in school.

"Already?!" Scarlet asked, "but we barely have any evidence!"

"Students, please report to the Gym. Further instruction will be provided once you reach there, _if_ you don't get lost!" Ark 2 added, laughing hysterically, before the PA shut off.

"Well, I suppose we gotta work with what we have," Kuro said, "I'll see ya guys later." Kuro left for the Gym after those words.

Mecca gulped. "C-Can… Can we even do this?"

"I mean, what else are we gonna do?" Scarlet replied, shuddering a little, "Run? Run where? And for how long? In the end, we can only face this crime head on, and find the absolute truth hidden within the giant web of lies and mystery…"

Without further words, the trio went off to the Gym…

The Gym was noisy with chatter, many people talking among themselves of what they discovered.

"If this was a real court, the judge would be pissed…" Scarlet sighed, looking around the room.

"Took you long enough," Anna said, looking at the trio, "Steph here just would NOT shut up about her theories on the blackened."

"She even accused me, despite the fact I was in my room the entire night, dreaming about… Well, certain peaches on the lower end of one's body." Omelette responded back.

"I was the first one to get here, and since a lot of people like to talk, I think I've heard new info I wouldn't have found otherwise!" Victor said, "How crazy is that? I can probably figure out who would aid in the trial or who would hinder it!"

"Not sure how that would help, but okay?" Kuro replied.

"And Drake… He can, I dunno, make comic books, I guess?" Omelette asked, giving off a shrug. "Perhaps a description of what may have happened?"

Drake nodded in agreement.

"Now then, where the hell is those two?" DM asked, "You'd think they'd show up now that everyone's-" he was cut of by the sudden appearance of both Monokuma and Ark 2 on the stage.

"Upupupupu!" Monokuma laughed out loud.

"You just love messing with me, don't you?" DM asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ark 2 replied, "Anyways, you all came to see the location of the elevator, no? Then we shall reveal it to you!" He pulled back the curtain behind him, and there was a massive door, which opened to reveal what appeared to be an elevator.

"Step inside, for this is where the trial room lies." Ark 2 said, stepping aside. Having no other choice, the class stepped into the room. The doors closed behind them, and the room hummed as the elevator lowered into another floor.

Marissa was frustrated. "Augh, I'm not even sure what to doooooo…"

"Neither do I, but here I am…" Rex replied, "I guess the best we can do is wing it and hope it works out? God, I've never been in a court before…"

"I been in court once…" Ellis admitted. "...It was when I was... " He soon shook his head. "No, forget whatever I just said."

Omelette sighed. "This'll be a bit different from those daytime courtroom dramas. Or videogame courtroom dramas. For example, there's no cute Ace Attorney or his perky sidekick with awesome witch powers."

Yentoulis grumbled. "Omelette, this is real life. And this is also serious as well. It's a murder trial, need I remind you?"

"Oh, this should be so easy, nobody what you described shall be necessary." Steph said out loud, as she looked over at Mecca.

Mecca could only look down, almost defeated. "But… I didn't even do it…"

Drake looked at Mecca with a sympathetic look. "We'll try our best to prove your innocence."

"I'd rather believe what the evidence tells me," Diane said, "and while it is quite easy to say Mecca killed her best friend, I have my doubts that Mecca would have the guts or the motive to do it, much less to a friend… But that's doesn't mean Mecca could _NEVER_ kill Xina, oh no…"

Meanwhile, Sting stood silent, until he started to speak up.

"Guys, calm down!" Sting said, "I get that this...murder was very sudden, and well… it's affected all of us, but we have no choice but to push forward, if we want to find out what lead to Xina's death."

"Within this newly-made web of lies, We have to find the truth, the ABSOLUTE Truth, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!" Scarlet added, getting fired up at the word "truth". Diane did a slow clap to the mini-speech.

"Thanks, I feel Sooooo much better now, 10/10, Oscar Award winner here," Diane said sarcastically.

"Can you not shit on their speech right now?" Anna asked, "any morale boost at this point in time is more than welcome in my book, even if it's a bit...cheesy."

Sting stood there, as the elevator continued to descend.

"And there we are… About to come ahead in all of this mess…"

"Who killed Xina? And why?"

"Whatever the case, it shall be answered in our first one…"

"The first…"

"Class Trial…"

Scarlet looked over at Sting. "Uhh, you feeling okay?"

"Hey, gotta have something to end on." Sting answered back.


End file.
